"The Bukoyemskis, who are foresters, and Tsyprianovitch from Yedlinka."
"I know them. Come to the house and tell how it happened."
They went out of the granary, but when half-way to the house the priest stopped on a sudden, looked into Tachevski's eyes quickly, and said,--
"Hear me, Yatsek, there is a woman in this quarrel."
The other smiled; with some melancholy.
"There is, and there is not," said he, "for really, she is the question, but she is innocent."
"Ah, ha! innocent! they are all innocent. But dost thou know what Ecclesiastes says of women?"
"I do not remember, benefactor."
"Neither do I remember all, but what I have forgotten I will read in the house to thee. 'Inveni amariorem morte mulierem, quae laqueus (says he) venatorum est et sagena cor ejus.' (I have found woman more bitter than death. Her heart is a trap and a snare). And farther on he adds something, but at the end he says: 'Qui placet Deo, effugiet illam, qui autem peccator est, capietur ab illa.' (Whoso is pleasing to God will escape her, but whoso is a sinner will be caught by her.) I have warned thee not one time but ten not to loiter in that mansion and now the blow strikes thee."
"Eh, it is easier for you to warn than for me not to visit," answered Yatsek, with a sigh.