Whether by chance or a trick of the young lady is unknown to us; it suffices, however, that the four Bukoyemskis received a large chamber in an outbuilding, and Pan Stanislav with Yatsek a smaller one near it. This confused the two men no little, and then, so as not to speak to each other, they began straightway the litany and continued it longer than was usual. But when they had finished there followed a silence which annoyed both of them, for though their feelings toward each other were unfriendly, they felt that they might not betray them, and that they should for a time, and especially at the house of Pan Gideon, show politeness. Yatsek ungirded his sabre, drew it out of the scabbard, looked at the edge by the light of the chimney, and fell to rubbing the blade with his handkerchief. "After frost," said he half to himself, half to Stanislav, "a sabre sweats in a warm chamber, and rust appears on it straightway." "And last night it must have frozen solidly," said Stanislav. He spoke without evil intention, and only because it occurred to him that Tachevski had been in a splitting frost all the night previous; but Yatsek placed the point of his blade on the floor, and looked quickly into the eyes of the other man. "Are you referring to this,--that I sat on a pine tree?" "Yes," replied Stanislav, with simplicity; "of course there was no stove there." "But what would you have done in my position?" Stanislav wished to answer "the same that you did," but the question was put to him sharply, so he answered,-- "Why break my head over that, since I was not in it?" Anger flashed for an instant on the face of Pan Yatsek, but to restrain himself he began to blow on the sabre and rub the blade with still greater industry. At last he returned it to the scabbard, and added,-- "God sends adventures and accidents." And his eyes, which one moment earlier had been gleaming, were covered again with the usual sadness, for just then he remembered his one friend, the horse, which those wolves had torn to pieces. Meanwhile the door opened and the four Bukoyemskis walked into the chamber. "The frost has weakened, and the snow sends up steam," said Mateush. "There will be fog," added Yan. And then they took note of Yatsek, whom they had not seen the first moment. "Oh art thou in such company?" asked Lukash, as he turned to Stanislav. All four brothers put their hands on their hips and cast challenging glances at Yatsek. Yatsek seized a chair and, pushing it to the middle of the chamber, turned to the Bukoyemskis with a sudden movement; then he sat astride of the chair, as on horseback, rested his elbows on the back of it, raised his head, and answered with equally challenging glances. Thus were they opposed then; he, with feet stretching widely apart in his Swedish boots, they, shoulder to shoulder, quarrelsome, threatening, enormous.