And the noble went on; but Marysia looked after him with a glance such as she would give to her guardian angel Still she had to wait long enough. At last the door with the green tablet opened with a clatter; out of it came a military man no longer young, and he walked along the corridor hastening greatly. Oi! you could know at once that he was the chief, for after him flew a number of petitioners, running up now from the right, now from the left, and to Marysia's ears came the exclamations: "One short word, lord chief!" "Gracious chief!" But he did not listen, and went on. It grew dark in the woman's eyes at sight of him. "Let the will of God be done," shot through her head; she rushed to the middle of the corridor, and, kneeling with upraised hands, barred the way. He saw her, and stopped; the whole procession halted. "What is the matter?" inquired he. "Most holy chief!" And she could go no further; she was so frightened that the voice broke in her throat: her tongue became a stake of wood. "What is it?" "Oh, oh! according to the list--" "What is that? Do they want you in the army? Hei?" asked the chief. The petitioners immediately fell to laughing in a chorus, to uphold the good humor of the chief; but he said at once to those courtiers,-- "I pray you! I pray you be silent!" Then he said impatiently to the woman,-- "More quickly! What is it?--for I have no time." But she had lost her head altogether from the laughter of the audience, and blurted out disconnectedly: "Burak, Repa! Repa! Burak, O!" "She must be drunk," said one of those nearer. "She left her tongue in the cottage," added another. "What do you want?" asked the chief, still more impatiently. "Are you drunk, or what?" "O Jesus! Mary!" cried the woman, feeling that the last plank of salvation was going from her hands. "Most sacred chief--" But he was really very much occupied, for the levy had begun already, and there was much business in the district; besides he could not talk with the woman, so he waved his hand, and said,-- "Vodka! vodka! And the woman is young and good-looking." Then he turned to her with such a voice that she came near sinking through the floor,-- "When thou art sober, lay the affair before the commune, and let the commune lay it before me." He went on hurriedly, and the petitioners after him, repeating, "One short word, lord chief!" "Gracious chief!" The corridor was deserted; it was silent there; only her little boy began to cry. She woke then as if from sleep, stood up, raised the child, and began to sing in a voice which seemed not her own. She went out of the building. The sky was covered with clouds; on the horizon it was thundering. The air was sultry.