ff you go, and look sharp about
it," and with that he gave a kick accompanied by a vigorous buffet to
the monster, who regarded him for a time with a broad grin, as if
expecting a repetition of the dose, and then plunged clumsily through
the kitchen door bellowing with mirth. Meanwhile the two men remained
outside in the courtyard.

One of them was a tall fair youth clad from head to foot in a greasy
leather costume. He had round washed-out features, a callous sort of
apathy played around his lips, and a cold indifference to suffering was
visible in his red-rimmed green eyes. What struck one most about him was
the furtive, prying expression of his face; he was evidently a spy by
nature, although he attempted to conceal his real character beneath a
mask of stupidity and absent-mindedness. But he pricked up his ears at
every word spoken in his presence. He reminded one of a snake which,
when captured, stiffens itself out and pretends to be dead, and will let
itself be broken in pieces before it will move.

The other youth was a pale-faced man, plainly a prey to the most
overwhelming depression. The ends of his little black moustache
straggled uncared for about the corners of his mouth, his hat was
pressed right down over his eyes. You could see at a glance that his
mind and his body were wandering miles apart from each other.

There they stood, then, in the courtyard of the headsman's house. The
appearance of this courtyard formed an overwhelming contrast with the
idea one generally pictures to one's self of such a place. A pretty
green lawn covered the whole courtyard, clinging to the walls were
creeping fig and apricot trees; in the background was a pretty vine;
heart-shaped flower-beds had been cut out of the lawn, and they were
full of fine wallflowers and the most fragrant sylvan flowers of every
species; further away stood melon beds, sending their far-reaching
shoots in every direction, red currant bushes, a weeping willow or two,
yellow rose bushes, myriad hued full-blown poppies--and little white
red-eyed rabbits were bounding all over the grass plot.

And yet this is the dwelling of the headsman.

"You can come in!" cried a strong, penetrating, sonorous woman's voice
from within, and the same instant Mekipiros bounded through the door
with his huge shaggy head projecting far in front of him. It was plain
that he had not quitted the room voluntarily, but in consequence of a
vigorous impulsion from behind.