"What was the matter?"
"Wait, Pan Michael, wait! I am terribly blown. I came near losing the use of my legs. Uf!"
"But what was the matter?"
"The devil in his own person,--the devil or a dragon! If you cut one head off him, another will grow."
"But speak plainly!"
"I saw Bogun on the market-square."
"Are you mad?"
"I saw him on the square, as I live, and with him five or six men, for I nearly lost the use of my legs. They held torches for him, and I thought, 'Some devil is standing in our road.' I lost all hope of a successful end to our undertaking. Can this imp of hell be immortal, or what? Don't speak of him to Helena. Oh, for God's sake, you slew him; Jendzian gave him up! That wasn't enough; he is alive now, free, and stands in the way. Oh, my God, my God! I tell you, Pan Michael, that I would rather see a ghost in a graveyard than him. And what devilish luck that I am the first to meet him everywhere! It's luck to cram down a dog's throat. Are there no other people in the world? Let others meet him. No! always I, and I."
"But did he see you?"
"If he had seen me, Pan Michael, you wouldn't be looking at me now. That alone was wanting."