"Ah! neighbour, your brandy is rousing and good." And Perfishka struck in in a high tenor: "Drink it, my neighbour, it comforts the blood." Ilya stepped up to the cobbler, caught him by the shoulder, and shook him, till he fell against the stove. "Where's your daughter?" he said commandingly. "And oh! his daughter she vanished away, In the midnight hour, ere the break of day," babbled Perfishka, and held his head with his hand. Jakov attempted to get the truth from Matiza, but she only said smirking: "I won't tell. I won't. I won't." "They've sold her, the devils," said Ilya to his friend, gloomily. Jakov looked at him in terror, then asked the cobbler almost weeping: "Perfishka! listen--Where is Mashutka?" "Mashutka?" repeated Matiza, scornfully. "Aha! you see. Now you remember." "Ilya! what shall we do?" cried Jakov full of anxiety. "We must tell the police," said Ilya, and looked with disgust at the drunkards. "Aha! jade! d'you hear," shouted Perfishka, beaming, "they want to tell the police! ha! ha! ha!" "The po--lice?" cried Matiza emphatically, and looked with extraordinary great eyes from Ilya to Jakov and back again. Then stretching out her hands helplessly, she screamed loudly: "You'll go to your police, will you? Get out of my room! It is my room now, we're just married, we two." "Ha! ha! ha! laughed the cobbler, holding his sides. "Come Jakov!" said Ilya. "The devil would be sickened at them! Come." "Wait!" cried Jakov, in anxious excitement. "Have they really married her? That child? Is it possible? Perfishka, tell me, have you really. Oh, tell me, where is Masha?" "Matiza, my wife, go for them! Catch them--catch--scream at them, bite them! Ha! ha! where is Masha?" Perfishka pursed his lips as though to whistle, but could not get out a sound, and instead, put out his tongue at Jakov and laughed again. Matiza pressed close to Ilya with her huge bosom heaving, and roared: "Who are you, eh? D'you think we don't know all about you?" Ilya gave her a push and left the cellar. In the passage Jakov overtook him, caught him by the shoulder, held him fast in the darkness, and said: "Is it allowed; can it be done? She's so little, Ilya! Have they really married her!" "Oh! don't whimper!" said Ilya wrathfully. "That's no good! You ought to have kept your eyes open before; you began it, and now they've finished it." Jakov was silent for a moment, then at once began again, as he stepped into the courtyard after Ilya. "It's not my fault. I only knew that she went out to work somewhere." "What does it matter, if you knew or didn't know?" said Ilya, harshly, and stood still in the middle of the courtyard. "I'll get out of this house anyhow; it ought to be burnt to the ground." "O God! O God!" sighed Jakov, in a low voice, keeping behind Ilya. Ilya wheeled round. Jakov stood there miserable, his arms hanging helplessly and his head bowed as if to receive a blow.