"She left her tongue in the cottage," added another.
"What do you want?" asked the chief, still more impatiently. "Are you drunk, or what?"
"O Jesus! Mary!" cried the woman, feeling that the last plank of salvation was going from her hands. "Most sacred chief—"
But he was really very much occupied, for the levy had begun already, and there was much business in the district; besides he could not talk with the woman, so he waved his hand, and said,—
"Vodka! vodka! And the woman is young and good-looking."
Then he turned to her with such a voice that she came near sinking through the floor,—
"When thou art sober, lay the affair before the commune, and let the commune lay it before me."
He went on hurriedly, and the petitioners after him, repeating, "One short word, lord chief!" "Gracious chief!"
The corridor was deserted; it was silent there; only her little boy began to cry. She woke then as if from sleep, stood up, raised the child, and began to sing in a voice which seemed not her own.
She went out of the building. The sky was covered with clouds; on the horizon it was thundering. The air was sultry.