The insult effectually sobered Kuba, and roused him from his dreamings. He said no more of what he could do; but held doggedly none the less to what he had said. Boryna had to give way by half a rouble or one _zloty_ at a time, and ended by agreeing to give him three roubles more, and a couple of shirts in lieu of earnest money. “Ho! Ho! what a fellow you are!” he said, as he drank with him to clinch the agreement, though he was angry at having to spend so much. All the same he thought Kuba was worth it, and more. A man as good as two for hard work; scrupulously honest besides, and more heedful of the beasts he tended than of himself; one, moreover, so well acquainted with husbandry that he could be relied on both to do his duty, and to see that the others did theirs. After settling two or three minor points, Kuba was about to leave. At the door, however, he turned round, and spoke in faltering tones: “The agreement is made, then: three roubles and a couple of shirts. But ... but.... I beseech you, don’t sell the filly. I saw her into the world, and spread my sheepskin over her, lest she should die of cold.... I could never bear to see her ill-used, perhaps by a Jew!... A horse is so docile, a man is nothing beside it.... Please don’t sell her!” “I never thought of doing such a thing.” “Folk talked of it in the tavern, and I heard.” “Meddlesome dogs and busybodies! They always know best what is to be done.” Kuba was so delighted that, had he dared, he would have embraced his master’s knees. He made the best of his way to bed, for it was late, and there was the fair on the morrow. * * * * * Next day, before the cock had crowed twice, every highway and by-way towards Tymov was thronged with people wending their way thither. There had been a heavy rain ere morning. In the East it had cleared up a little, but the sky was threatening, with many a dun-coloured cloud. Over the low-lying fields crept fogs, dripping wet and grey as coarse canvas; and the pathways glistened with many a pool. They had set out from Lipka at early dawn. All along the poplar-planted road beyond the church and as far as the forest stretched a chain of slowly-rolling wagons, one close after another; and either side of the highway was variegated by a line of red petticoats and white capotes. The multitude was so great that all the village seemed to be there. The poorer husbandmen went on foot; so did the women and the farm-hands and the lasses. So, too, did some common labourers and inferior workers, this being the fair at which service was taken or changed. Some went to buy, and some to sell, and some just to enjoy the fair.