Meanwhile the sisters led, or rather carried the young lady from the chamber.
"Come to the chancellery to rest," said the butler. "I advise your grace earnestly."
And he pushed the man before him as he would a child, while Martsian, with chattering teeth, moved on with his short legs, crying for a halter and the hangman; but he could not resist, for a moment later he had grown so weak all at once, from the outburst, that he was unable even to stand unassisted. So, when the butler in the chancellery threw him on the horse skin with which the bed was covered, Martsian did not even try to rise; he lay there panting with heaving sides, like a horse after over-exertion.
"Something to drink!" shouted he.
The butler opened the door, called a boy, and, whispering some words, gave him keys: the lad returned with a pint glass and a demijohn of brandy.
The butler filled the glass to the brim, sniffed at it, and said approaching Martsian,--
"Drink, your grace."
Krepetski seized it with both hands, but they trembled so that liquor dropped on his breast; then the butler raised him, put the glass to his lips, and inclined it.
He drank and drank, holding the glass greedily when the butler tried to remove it from his mouth. At last he drank all, and fell backward.
"It may be too much," said the butler, "but you had become very weak when I gave it."