But Father Cyril found himself bound fast under a yoke of bondage. It made him very miserable to feel its weight as he had never done before. He knew there was no help for him. He must do a thing which his soul and his conscience abhorred. The child would be taken from him by force, if he did not give her up. It was heartrending to him to tell Velia of the doom that was pronounced against her. He took her on his knee, and pressed her head tenderly against his breast, not daring to look upon her face as he broke the painful news to her. He felt the little heart beating fast against his encircling arm, and the convulsive clasp of her small hand. At last she spoke. "Father Cyril, is it true?" she asked. "Yes, yes!" he said. "Oh, if father and Michael only knew!" she cried. "They'd save me." "They could not, my darling," he answered, tears stealing down his cheeks; "the Government is too strong, and the Church is too strong, for feeble folks like us to resist them. We must submit. I will do all I can for you, and watch over you; and you shall come here as often as possible." "The old Matoushka will not let it be!" cried Velia in despair. Father Vasili's widow lived a little way on the other side of the church, near to the cemetery, in a log-hut she had had built for herself when her husband died. She was very well off, thanks to her own thrift, and her clever faculty for squeezing gifts and dues out of the parishioners during Father Vasili's life. But she chose to live as if she was in the deepest penury. She had never kept a servant, but now she was growing old, she had to pay a woman—when she could get one—to do her washing and cleaning. To give her her due, her house was far cleaner than the peasants' huts. For some months she had coveted the possession of Velia and the three roubles a month paid for her maintenance. Now she had got her, her chief aim was to make her do as much work and to cost as small a sum as possible. She had a secondary aim—that of making Velia into an Orthodox Christian. She never missed going to church, and thither Velia was bound to accompany her. Father Cyril, at the altar, saw the strong old woman take hold of Velia's reluctant hand, and make the sign of the cross with it, and force the girl to bend her head before the icon. The action scandalised him, and Velia's miserable face tormented him. It was in vain he remonstrated with the old Matoushka; she was only too glad to be able to wring his heart.