In the cabin, a big fire was blazing up the chimney; and on it, in a vast cauldron that a couple of men could hardly lift, an entire ham was simmering, while sausages bobbed up and down in a smaller pot; from these the room was penetrated with so strong and delicious a scent that Vitek, busy whittling toys for the little ones, would again and again lift up his nose, and sniff and draw a deep breath of longing. Before the fire-place, and in the brightest light of the flames, sat Yagna and Yuzka, amicably engaged in colouring the Easter eggs, though each vied with the other and kept her methods secret. Yagna washed hers first in tepid water, dried them, and then overlaid them with dots and patches of melted wax, and plunged them successively into the seething contents of three small pots. It was tedious work: the wax scaled off sometimes, or the eggs broke under her hands, or burst in the boiling; but she succeeded with about thirty. And then, oh, what things of beauty they were! The idea of Yuzka as Yagna’s rival! Hers had been boiled with ears of rye and onion-skins that stained them a pretty reddish-brown, which she had embellished with variegated white and yellow patterns, uncommonly pleasing to the eye.... But, when she saw Yagna’s work, she remained open-mouthed with amazement, presently followed by vexation and annoyance.—Why, they dazzled the eyes with their red and yellow and violet tints, and colours like fields of blue flax-flowers! And upon those backgrounds there were painted such wonders that she could not believe her eyes: on one, cocks perched upon a fence and crowing open-beaked; on another, a lot of geese hissing at a sow that wallowed in the mud: here you saw a flock of doves flying over a crimson field, and there fantastic traceries of a bewildering type, and like the frost-patterns on the panes in winter. Wondering, she gazed upon them again and again. Hanka, too, looked at them when she got back from church with Yagustynka, but said not one word. Only the old woman, after a glance at them all, gave vent to her surprise: “How in the world have ye come by such fancies? Dear, dear!” “How? Why, they just flowed from my head to my fingers.” She was pleased with herself. “Ye might take a few to his Reverence.” “I shall offer him some; it may be that he will accept them.” “His Reverence, indeed! Never saw such marvels! Will be thunderstruck with them!” Hanka muttered ironically, when Yagna had gone from the room. That evening many villagers sat up late. It was a black night, overcast, though still. The mill clattered on steadily, and the lamps gleamed in the hut-windows till close on midnight, throwing many streaks of light out into the lanes and over the trembling surface of the pond. Saturday came, quite warm and a little hazy, but brighter than the previous day; so that the people, notwithstanding the hard work done already, rose blithely to encounter what was coming.