Roch, who sat in the shadow, was explaining at length the results of opening the school in Lipka as proposed; and Gregory was telling each man in particular how to vote and what to say to the head of the District. They laid their heads together for a long time, with many objections and some opposition; but in the end they agreed entirely, and then separated before dawn, for they would have to rise pretty early in the morning. So Yagna remained alone awake outside the cottage, still plunged in the night of her reverie, still breathing these words, like an invocation of love: “He will come—he will be here!” And she turned instinctively, bowing towards the eastern sky—as if desirous to know what the coming day would bring, that now peeped grey over the horizon—and she abandoned herself, with a sense of dread and yet of exultation, to that which was to be. CHAPTER VIII It was near noontide, and the heat greater and greater. The people were all assembled outside the District Office; but the head of the District had not yet appeared. The scrivener had several times come out upon the threshold and, shading his eyes, looked down the broad highway, with its borders of gnarled willow-trees. Nothing was visible but the glittering pools which yesterday’s shower had left—one cart crawling along, and a peasant’s white capote fluttering among the trees. So they waited patiently. The Voyt alone rushed bustling to and fro, restless and fidgety, now looking out upon the road, now urging forward the work of the men who were filling up the hollows in the square before the Office. “Faster, lads! faster, for God’s sake! He will be here ere ye have done the work!” A voice from the crowd called out: “Beware lest ye be so scared that some accident happen to you!” “Now, men, stir yourselves! I am here on duty: such jests are untimely.” “Our Voyt, ’tis known, fears God alone!” said one peasant, a man from Rzepki. The Voyt, now furious, shrieked: “If any man speak one word more, I’ll have him thrown in jail!”—And then he ran round to the cemetery that stood upon the height on which the District Office was perched. It was overshadowed by many an ancient tree, through whose branches the grey church tower was seen; the black arms of the crosses bent over the stone wall, and above the road that led through the village.