“Maybe I don’t know him, that Mellehovich! And what did you do?”
“I was afraid to scream.”
“Afraid to scream! Zosia, do you hear that? When was your loving found out?”
“Father came in, and struck him on the spot with a hatchet; then he whipped me, and gave orders to flog him so severely that he was a fortnight in bed.”
Here Eva began to cry, partly from sorrow, and partly from confusion. At sight of this, the dark-blue eyes of the sensitive Zosia filled with tears, then Basia began to comfort Eva, “All will be well, my head on that! And I will harness Michael into the work, and Pan Zagloba. I will persuade them, never fear. Against the wit of Pan Zagloba nothing can stand; you do not know him. Don’t cry, Eva dear, it is time for supper.”
Mellehovich was not at supper. He was sitting in his own room, warming at the fire gorailka and mead, which he poured into a smaller cup afterward and drank, eating at the same time dry biscuits. Pan Bogush came to him late in the evening to talk over news.
The Tartar seated him at once on a chair lined with sheepskin, and placing before him a pitcher of hot drink, inquired, “But does Pan Novoveski still wish to make me his slave?”
“There is no longer any talk of that,” answered the under-stolnik of Novgrod, “Pan Nyenashinyets might claim you first; but he cares nothing for you, since his sister is already either dead, or does not wish any change in her fate. Pan Novoveski did not know who you were when he punished you for intimacy with his daughter. Now he is going around like one stunned, for though your father brought a world of evil on this country, he was a renowned warrior, and blood is always blood. As God lives, no one will raise a finger here while you serve the country faithfully, especially as you have friends on all sides.”
“Why should I not serve faithfully?” answered Azya. “My father fought against you; but he was a Pagan, while I profess Christ.”
“That’s it,—that’s it! You cannot return to the Crimea, unless with loss of faith, and that would be followed by loss of salvation; therefore no earthly wealth, dignity, or office could recompense you. In truth, you owe gratitude both to Pan Nyenashinyets and Pan Novoveski, for the first brought you from among Pagans, and the second reared you in the true faith.”