“They gave me nothing,” she replied; “nor did I greatly care, but now my head swims, I cannot keep in the saddle—I should have told you!”
I did not know what to do, and looked again at that stationary light, which seemed now to burn brighter.
“Do you know what that is?” I asked her. “Is there a house near where I can get you food?”
She turned her head and looked in the direction I indicated.
“Yes,” she said listlessly. “I meant to tell you; it is a hut, and I know the old peasants who live in it; they will have rice bread and I will try to eat it. I am sorry,” she added, “I am very sorry to hinder you, monsieur, for my weakness.”
My heart smote me; had I not both eaten and slept, and I was a strong man and she, delicate and bred in luxury, had endured so much without complaint and ridden until she reeled in the saddle.
“If I can have a bit of bread and a cup of water, I can go on,” she said faintly. “I must go on!”
“Yes,” I replied, “when you have rested and broken your fast. Fear not, madame, they do not pursue us; and if you are certain of this house we will go forward.”
“I am certain,” she said.
I kept her horse’s bridle and led the beast beside mine, as we advanced some twenty yards, and then, not daring to take her to the house without first reconnoitering, I dismounted, and, with some misgivings lest her strength should altogether fail, I hurried forward. I came first upon a shrine, where a little lamp burned feebly, fed, no doubt, by the occupant of the khatka or hut that I now plainly discerned standing a little way from the road. I approached it swiftly, but cautiously, and examined it with care. It was one of the little mud houses, thatched with straw, commonly used by the moujiks, and through the unglazed window I saw an old woman cooking something over a fire of fagots, while in another corner a man, quite as old and more feeble, slept in his chair. The hut contained but one room, and only these two persons were in it. Reassured, I went back for the princess, confident that she would make her way with these people more quickly than I, for when the Russ became a patois I could not clearly understand it. I led our horses to the door of this humble dwelling and was about to knock when the old woman herself came to peep out at us, aroused by the tread of the animals. She opened the door cautiously, and only peered through the crack with an evident absence of hospitality.