Father Cyril found himself powerless to soften Velia's lot. The woman was cruel, but not with such manifest cruelty as to arouse the indignation of the neighbours, and give him sufficient ground for a representation to the archbishop, and a petition to get Velia placed elsewhere. He knew she suffered from a want of nourishing food; and as the winter passed by he saw that she went shivering about in very deficient clothing. He felt that he should have to stand by, his hands tied, and his tongue silenced, whilst the child he loved was dying by inches. He made an effort to induce the old Matoushka to allow Velia to come to his home once a week, by promising to provide her with wood split ready for her stove—a task too heavy for the little girl. "She may go if she'll go to confession," said the old Matoushka. "That, of course, you could not forbid," replied Father Cyril. But Velia could not be prevailed upon to go to confession. Her father had thought it wrong, she hardly knew why, but that was enough. Father Cyril appealed to Yarina; and Yarina, who was the richest woman in Knishi, invited the old Matoushka to spend a day with her, and bring Velia to play with her children. The old Matoushka went, but she locked Velia up in a closet to which there was no window. The girl was her slave, and no one should interfere between them. The Starosta, Okhrim, was on her side, and both of them triumphed over Father Cyril. They held fast a scourge to flog him with. For Velia's sake, he gave up the useless conflict. It was almost a relief to Father Cyril when he, found himself, through the influence of his wife's relatives, transferred to a larger and more important parish on the other side of Kovylsk. He could do nothing for Velia, and her misery was greater than he could bear to witness. No letter had reached him from Alexis, and he did not know how to find out his place of exile. Besides, what could Alexis do? The knowledge of his child's position would only torture him. Father Cyril could not even bid the girl farewell, except in the presence of the old Matoushka, who would not let Velia go out of her sight. He drew the child to him, looked into her appealing eyes, kissed her forehead, and tearing himself away took refuge in his church, where, before the altar, he prayed long and fervently for the conversion of the misguided Stundists to the Orthodox faith.