Jendrek grew pale and silently put on his new sukmana and sheepskin.
'What will they do to him?' his father asked peevishly.
'Eh! I dare say he'll get a few days, perhaps a week.'
Slimak slowly pulled a rouble out of a little packet.
'And…Soltys, have you heard what the accursed Jew has been saying about Maciek and the child being frozen to death?'
'How shouldn't I have heard?' said the Soltys, reluctantly; 'it's true.'
'Frozen…frozen?'
'Yes, of course. But,' he added, 'every one understands that it's not your fault. He didn't look after the horses and you discharged him. No one told him to go down into the ravines.
He must have been drunk. The poor wretch died through his own stupidity.'
Jendrek was ready to start, and embraced his parents' knees. Slimak gave him the rouble, tears came into his eyes; his mother, however, showed no sign of interest.