Part 24 (1/2)

”But ye, do ye know anything?”

”Be quiet!” said the priest. ”Be sure I shall not leave the letter unanswered. Still, to drop revenge is a Christian and a Catholic action.”

”Oh but! Even you, father, s.n.a.t.c.hed for a sabre the first moment.”

”Because I carried a sabre too long. _Mea Culpa!_ Still, as I have said, this fact comes in also. Pan Gideon is old, he has only one arm; iron rules are not in place here. And I tell you, gentlemen, that for this very reason I am disgusted to the last degree with this raging old fellow who makes use of his impunity so unjustly.”

”Still, it will be too narrow for him in our neighborhood,” said Yan Bukoyemski. ”Our heads for this: that not a living foot will go under that roof of his.”

”Meanwhile an answer is needed,” said Father Voynovski, ”and immediately.”

For a time yet they considered as to who should write,--Yatsek, at whom the letter was aimed, or the priest to whom it was directed. Yatsek settled the question by saying,--

”For me that whole house and all people in it are as if dead, and it is well for them that in my soul this is settled.”

”It is well that the bridges are burnt!” said the priest; as he sought pen and paper.

”It is well that the bridges are burnt,” repeated Yan Bukoyemski, ”but it would be better that the mansion rose in smoke! This was our way in the Ukraine: when some strange man came in and knew not how to live with us, we cut him to pieces and up in smoke went his property.”

No one turned attention to these words save Pan Serafin, who waved his hands with impatience, and answered,--

”You, gentlemen, came in here from the Ukraine, I, from Lvoff, and Pan Gideon from Pomorani; according to your wit Pan Tachevski might count us all as intruders; but know this, that the Commonwealth is a great mansion occupied by a family of n.o.bles, and a n.o.ble is at home in every corner.”

Silence followed, except that from the alcove came the squeaking of a pen and words in an undertone which the priest was dictating to himself. Yatsek rested his forehead on his palms and sat motionless for some time; all at once he straightened himself, looked at those present, and said,--

”There is something in this beyond my understanding.”

”We do not understand, either,” added Lukash, ”but if thou wilt pour out more mead we will drink it.”

Yatsek poured into the gla.s.ses mechanically, following at the same time the course of his own thoughts.

”Pan Gideon,” said he, ”might be offended because the duel began at his mansion, though such things happen everywhere; but now he knows that I did not challenge, he knows that he offended me under my own roof unjustly, he knows that with you I am now in agreement, and that I shall not appear at his house again,--still he pursues me, still he is trying to trample me.”

”True, there is some kind of special animosity in this,” said Pan Serafin.

”Ha! then there is as you think something in it?”

”In what?” asked the priest, who had come out with a letter now written, and heard the last sentence.

”In this special hatred against me.”

The priest looked at a shelf on which among other books was the Holy Bible, and said,--

”That which I will say to thee now I said long ago: there is a woman in it.” Here he turned to those present. ”Have I repeated to you, gentlemen, what Ecclesiastes says about woman?”

But he could not finish, for Yatsek sprang up as if burnt by living fire. He thrust his fingers through his hair and almost screamed, for immense pain had seized him.

”Still more do I fail to understand; for if any one in the world--if to any one in the world--if there be any one of such kind--then with my whole soul--”