'What's the matter with him, has he gone blind?' impatiently exclaimed the gospodyni, and opened the door.
Something which was not Maciek was standing in the passage, a shapeless figure, not tall, but bulky. It was wrapped in a soaking wet shawl. Slimakowa stepped back for a moment, but when the firelight fell into the passage, she discerned a human face in the opening of the shawl, copper-coloured, with a broad nose and slanting eyes that were hardly visible under the swollen eyelids.
'The Lord be praised,' said a hoarse voice.
'You, Zoska?' asked the astonished gospodyni.
'It is I.'
'Come in quickly, you are letting all the damp into the room.'
The new-comer stepped forward, but stood still, irresolutely. She held a child in her arms whose face was as white as chalk, with blue lips; she drew out one of its arms; it looked like a stick.
'What are you doing out in weather like this?' asked Slimak.
'I'm going after a place.' She looked round, and decided to crouch down on the floor, near the wall. 'They say in the village that you have a lot of money now; I thought you might want a girl.'
'We don't want a girl, there is not even enough for Magda to do. Why are you out of a place?'