ur, of which she hardly dared
to think, in which all was made clear to him, or in which a veil descended
over all, shutting out in merciful obscurity the brilliant vision and the
bitter disappointment. If she could only be with him at that moment, she
thought, she might comfort him, she might make his sufferings more easy to
bear, and at the idea the tears that were so near rose nearer still to the
flowing, kept back only by shame of being seen.

It was a terrible day, and everything jarred upon the poor girl's nature,
from Akulina's thick, strong voice, continually discussing the question of
marks and pennies, with occasional allusions to late events, to the
disagreeable, scratching, paring sound of the Cossack's heavy knife as it
cut its way through the great packages of leaves. The mid-day hour
afforded no relief, for the pressure of work was great and each of the
workers had brought a little food to be eaten in haste and almost without
a change of position. For the work was paid for in proportion to its
quantity, and the poor people were glad enough when there was so much to
do, since there was then just so much more to be earned. There were times
when the demand was slack and when Fischelowitz would not keep his people
at their tables for more than two or three hours in a day. They might
occupy the rest of their time as they could, and earn something in other
ways, if they were able. When those hard times came poor Vjera picked up a
little sewing, paid for at starvation rates, Johann Schmidt turned his
hand to the repairing of furs, in which he had some skill, and which is an
art in itself, and Dumnoff varied his existence by exercising great
economy in the matter of food without making a similar reduction in the
allowance of his drink. Under ordinary circumstances Vjera would have
rejoiced at the quantity of work to be done, and as it was, her mental
suffering did not make her fingers awkward or less nervously eager in the
perpetual rolling of the little pieces of paper round the glass tube. Even
acute physical pain is often powerless to affect the mechanical skill of a
hand trained for many years to repeat the same little operation thousands
of times in a day with unvarying perfection. Vjera worked as well and as
quickly as ever, though the hours seemed so endlessly long as to make her
wonder why she did not turn out more work than usual. From time to time
the two men exchanged more or less personal observations af