"Some one must have brought it there," said the widow, at last; "but who could it have been?"
"And who could have been willing to desert such a pretty baby?" answered the old man, indignantly. "How could such a thing be possible?"
"Oh, oh! There are many people capable of such a thing," replied the widow, shaking her head sententiously. "This is not the only instance which might be related of human depravity. Did you never hear of the unnatural mother who had the atrocity to give her sweet little baby to be devoured by swine?"
Old Iermola, not being able to comprehend what he heard, kept silence, opening wide his eyes and shaking his head. Meanwhile the two women had been kneeling on the floor that they might see the baby better.
"How fine and white his long-clothes are!"
"And how delicate it is!"
"It must be the child of some lord, for no one in the village would have dared to do such a thing."
"And was it really brought and placed near your hut?"
"Yes, yes! but advise me; tell me what I ought to do with it."
"Do what you like best," answered the widow. "You can take it to the steward, who will have it sent to the chief of police; and then it will be taken to the hospital."