"Gavril lies drunk in the Starost's stable; he has had more than his share of the wedding vodka; I made him drunk in order to take his place. And I have come because—do not be a fool and cry out—because the devil behind us has lived long enough; as it has not been our wedding-day it shall be his death-day."
"Ivan, you dare not—you must not. He is a devil, as you say, but to murder him would do us no good. The Tsar's officers would come and take you from me and carry you away to Siberia, and what should I do then?"
"Bah! they must catch us first. We have these horses. We will drive all night by the roads, so as to leave no track, and we will come to the village of Ostrof, where I have relatives; they will take us in."
"And then?" said Olga, trembling so that she could scarcely speak.
"Their Barin will not ask questions; he will have us registered as his own and there is an end."
"But he must know why we have fled from our own Barin; he will ask and require to be satisfied."
"We will say that he was a devil and beat us, and that we would bear with him no longer."
"Do not shed blood, Ivan," said Olga. "I should fear you all my life long."
"Bah! to slay such vermin is to do God's service; do not be a timid fool, Olga; we cannot live without one another; is not that a certain thing?"
"That is certain; but I would rather love you without fearing you——" Olga's speech was interrupted at this moment by the sudden shying of the shaft horse, a movement which caused her to grab the narrow board on which she sat and Ivan to collide violently against her, so that both nearly toppled out of the sledge. It caused the Barin to awake suddenly, also, and to launch at Ivan's head a string of curses and abuse.