"But you must have one."
"No."
"Now, don't be silly, or you will be whipped."
I could well believe that they would whip me; that was why I would not answer her. She made a hissing sound like a cat, and went out noiselessly, also like a cat.
Two lamps were lit. The yellow globes hung down from the ceiling like two eyes, hanging and winking, dazzled, and trying to get closer together.
Some one in the corner said:
"How can I play without a hand?"
"Ah, of course; they have cut off your hand."
I came to the conclusion at once that they cut off a man's hand because he played at cards! What would they do with me before they starved me?
My hands burned and smarted just as if some one were pulling the bones out of them. I cried softly from fright and pain, and shut my eyes so that the tears should not be seen; but they forced their way through my eyelids, and, trickling over my temples, fell into my ears.