Antkowa bowed down to his feet, wiping tears of rage from her eyes, and after she had poured the holy water into a chipped basin and put the asperges-brush beside it, she went out into the passage, where a few people who had come with the priest were waiting already.
'Christ be praised.'
'In Eternity.'
'What is it?'
'Oh nothing! Only that he's come here to give up… with us, whom he has wronged. And now he won't give up. Oh dear me… poor me!'
She began to cry.
'That's true! He will have to rot, and you will have to live,' they all answered in unison and nodded their heads.
'One's own father,' she began again. '… Have we, Antek and I, not taken care of him, worked for him, sweated for him, just as much as they? Not a single egg would I sell, not half a pound of butter, but put it all down his throat; the little drop of milk I have taken away from the baby and given it to him, because he was an old man and my father… and now he goes and gives it all to Tomek. Fifteen acres of land, the cottage, the cows, the pigs, the calf, and the farm-carts and all the furniture… is that nothing? Oh, pity me! There's no justice in this world, none… Oh, oh!'
She leant against the wall, sobbing loudly.
'Don't cry, neighbour, don't cry. God is full of mercy, but not always towards the poor. He will reward you some day.'