3. Little Maroussia

“You astonish me, my dear sir,” said another officer, who had remained seated during this scene. “Why this haste? Have we not time to seize this scamp? Is there nothing more pressing than to shoot him? If he has escaped us, it is not for a long time. Do you forget that we have been running like crazy people, since this morning, without eating or drinking, and it is not healthful to have an empty stomach? Is not this an agreeable little house, would it displease you to have a good supper here? After supper we shall be only more disposed to begin again the hunt for this bandit. Zounds! my dear sir, you are as red as a cock! Have you forgotten, unfortunate man, the doctor’s advice? ‘No excitement, no anger, moderate exercise, regular meals.’ And your poor wife, who made me promise so often to watch over you, to care for you like a brother, she would be in a pretty state of mind if she could see in what senseless anger you allow yourself.”

“Be silent,” answered the red-faced man in a choking voice. “Be silent, and we will have supper.”

And, turning to Danilo:

“You have heard? ” he said. “Let everything that is good in your pantry be put on this table in two minutes, in two minutes!” and he struck a blow on the table which shook the house.

“Odarka,” said Danilo to his wife, “be quick.”

Odarka went out of the room carrying in her arms the two little boys. The older resisted; he did not wish to leave his father.

She reappeared very soon with her hands full of dishes. She was calm and silent. Nevertheless, her eyes looked over the room with a certain uneasiness.

Semène Vorochilo and Andry Krouk, with their hands tied behind them and their legs bound by strong cords, were standing in a corner of the room. Danilo with his arms folded stood in another corner. With the exception of a sentinel who guarded the door, the soldiers had disappeared. The officers seated at the table, sabers by their side and pistols at hand, were eating, drinking, laughing and talking gaily.

But where then was little Maroussia, all this time?

The beautiful skies of this country, the singular and peculiar beauty of its stars, the depth and transparency of its blue vault, are a source of astonishment and innocent envy to the occasional travelers who visit it.

That night was magnificent. Maroussia, light and silent as a shadow, had disappeared a few moments after the return of Danilo. Had the glance of her father, incomprehensible to anyone else, told her what she must try to do, or had she only followed her own intuitions? At any rate, it was then that she glided, unseen, out of the room, and having passed, as impalpable as a thought, through the midst of the soldiers and horses which surrounded the house, reached the garden.

Once there, the child stopped under a cherry-tree and pressed her hand on her heart as if to stop its throbbing. Her little heart was beating as if it would burst. Her head was on fire. Scalding tears flowed from her eyes. She was sad, sad enough to die, but not overcome. She hoped for help, without knowing whence it was to come. The breeze cooled her forehead and calmed the agitation of her breast. Had any one noticed her flight? The confused but monotonous murmur of the soldiers’ voices reached and reassured her. The roaring and laughing of the officers, whose sports were under no restraint, also reached her. They were laughing, but what was she going to do? Her glances rested on this house which held all she loved and venerated.