"He began long ago to wish for this," said the old woman mysteriously. "After he had talked to-day with thee he called me. I thought that there was something wrong with the supper, and that he would reproach me, but he said nothing. I saw that for some reason he was cheerful, and all at once he broke the news to me. My legs trembled under me. 'What is the matter?' asked he. 'You are turned, like Lot's wife, to a pillar of salt,' said he. 'Is it because I have taken such a mushroom?' 'No,' I answered, 'but because it is so unexpected.' 'With me,' said he, then, 'that is an old idea. Like a fish at the bottom of a river it was unknown till some one helped it to swim to the surface. And dost thou know who that was?' I felt sure that it was the prelate. 'Not at all,' said he, 'but Pan Grothus.'"
A moment of silence followed.
"But I thought Pan Yatsek--" said Anulka through her set teeth.
"Why Yatsek?"
"To show that he did not care for me."
"Thou knowest that Yatsek has not seen Pan Gideon."
Then Anulka began to repeat feverishly,--
"Yes, I know! He had something else in his head! Let that go! I do not want to know anything. I do not, I do not! It is all finished, and finished forever."
A dry, nervous weeping shook her bosom. After a moment she repeated again,--
"It is finished beyond recall!" Then they knelt down to an "Our Father," which they repeated each evening in company.