So Philip the miller reasoned with himself, and tried to ease his conscience a little. It was only as he was on the verge of falling asleep that a thought crept out of some recess of his brain like a toad out of a hole, and that thought was:
“Now, Philip, now’s your time!”
This thought chased all the others out of his mind and took possession of it.
With it he went to sleep.
VI
Early next morning, while the dew is still glittering on the grass, behold the miller dressed and on his way to the village. He found the people there buzzing like bees in a hive.
“Hey! Have you heard the news?” they cried. “Only a pair of shoes came back from the city last night instead of the inn-keeper.”
It was the talk of the village that morning, and the amount of gossip was sinful!
When Yankel’s widow had a pair of shoes returned to her instead of her husband, she lost her head entirely and didn’t know what in the world to do. To make matters worse, Yankel had wisely taken all his bonds to town with him, never dreaming that Khapun would get him that night. How could the poor Jew guess that out of the whole Hebrew congregation the devil would happen to choose him?
“That’s the way people always are, they never know, they never feel when trouble like, for instance, Khapun is hanging over their heads.”