The Witch | Page 5

-- do
you remember? -- the marshal's clerk was lost, and turned up here, the
hound. . . . Tfoo! To be tempted by the clerk! It was worth upsetting
God's weather for him! A drivelling scribbler, not a foot from the
ground, pimples all over his mug and his neck awry! If he were
good-looking, anyway -- but he, tfoo! he is as ugly as Satan!"
The sexton took breath, wiped his lips and listened. The bell was not to
be heard, but the wind banged on the roof, and again there came a
tinkle in the darkness.
"And it's the same thing now!" Savely went on. "It's not for nothing the
postman is lost! Blast my eyes if the postman isn't looking for you! Oh,
the devil is a good hand at his work; he is a fine one to help! He will
turn him round and round and bring him here. I know, I see! You can't
conceal it, you devil's bauble, you heathen wanton! As soon as the
storm began I knew what you were up to."
"Here's a fool!" smiled his wife. "Why, do you suppose, you thick-head,
that I make the storm?"
"H'm! . . . Grin away! Whether it's your doing or not, I only know that
when your blood's on fire there's sure to be bad weather, and when
there's bad weather there's bound to be some crazy fellow turning up
here. It happens so every time! So it must be you!"
To be more impressive the sexton put his finger to his forehead, closed
his left eye, and said in a singsong voice:
"Oh, the madness! oh, the unclean Judas! If you really are a human
being and not a witch, you ought to think what if he is not the mechanic,
or the clerk, or the huntsman, but the devil in their form! Ah! You'd
better think of that!"

"Why, you are stupid, Savely," said his wife, looking at him
compassionately. "When father was alive and living here, all sorts of
people used to come to him to be cured of the ague: from the village,
and the hamlets, and the Armenian settlement. They came almost every
day, and no one called them devils. But if anyone once a year comes in
bad weather to warm himself, you wonder at it, you silly, and take all
sorts of notions into your head at once."
His wife's logic touched Savely. He stood with his bare feet wide apart,
bent his head, and pondered. He was not firmly convinced yet of the
truth of his suspicions, and his wife's genuine and unconcerned tone
quite disconcerted him. Yet after a moment's thought he wagged his
head and said:
"It's not as though they were old men or bandy-legged cripples; it's
always young men who want to come for the night. . . . Why is that?
And if they only wanted to warm themselves ---- But they are up to
mischief. No, woman; there's no creature in this world as cunning as
your female sort! Of real brains you've not an ounce, less than a starling,
but for devilish slyness -- oo-oo-oo! The Queen of Heaven protect us!
There is the postman's bell! When the storm was only beginning I knew
all that was in your mind. That's your witchery, you spider!"
"Why do you keep on at me, you heathen?" His wife lost her patience
at last. "Why do you keep sticking to it like pitch?"
"I stick to it because if anything -- God forbid -- happens to-night . . .
do you hear? . . . if anything happens to-night, I'll go straight off
to-morrow morning to Father Nikodim and tell him all about it. 'Father
Nikodim,' I shall say, 'graciously excuse me, but she is a witch.' 'Why
so?' 'H'm! do you want to know why?' 'Certainly. . . .' And I shall tell
him. And woe to you, woman! Not only at the dread Seat of Judgment,
but in your earthly life you'll be punished, too! It's not for nothing there
are prayers in the breviary against your kind!"
Suddenly there was a knock at the window, so loud and unusual that
Savely turned pale and almost dropped backwards with fright. His wife
jumped up, and she, too, turned pale.
"For God's sake, let us come in and get warm!" they heard in a
trembling deep bass. "Who lives here? For mercy's sake! We've lost our
way."
"Who are you?" asked Raissa, afraid to look at the window.

"The post," answered a second voice.
"You've succeeded with your devil's tricks," said Savely with a wave of
his hand. "No mistake; I am right! Well, you'd better look out!"
The sexton jumped on to the bed in two skips, stretched himself