drink!"

"Wawrzecki, dog's face! Get Mimi and another girl and we'll arrange
a little chorus."

They immediately got together and intoned a gay song. Only Glogowski
did not sing, for he leaned against Cabinski and fell fast asleep
and Janina's head was so heavy that she could not utter a single
tone.

The singing continued with increasing gayety, while Janina felt an
irresistible drowsiness overpowering her, felt herself reeling from
her chair.

Later she was half-conscious of someone supporting her, covering
her, leading her and felt that she was riding in a hack. She felt
something near her which she could not make out, felt a hot breath
on her face, and arms stealing about her waist; she heard the rumble
of wheels and with difficulty distinguished a voice whispering into
her ear: "I love you, I love you!" but she could not understand what
it all meant.

Suddenly she trembled, for she felt hot kisses upon her mouth. She
sprang up violently and recovered her senses.

Kotlicki was sitting beside her, holding her about the waist and
kissing her. She wanted to shove him away from her, but her hands
dropped heavily to her side; she wanted to scream out loud, but had
no strength left; drowsiness overpowered her again and threw her
into a lethargy, as it were.

Finally, the hack stopped and the sudden silence awakened her. She
saw that she was standing on the sidewalk and that Kotlicki was
ringing the doorbell of some house.

"God! God!" she whispered in bewilderment, unable to understand
where she was.

Only then did Janina realize everything in a flash when Kotlicki
drew close to her and whispered sweetly: "Come!"

She tore herself away from him with the force of great fear. He
tried to put his arm about her again but she shoved him back with
such violence that he went hurtling against the wall and then she
ran as though bereft of her senses, for it seemed to her that he was
pursuing, that he was already catching up with her and ready to
seize her. Her heart beat like a trip hammer and her face burned
with shame and terror.

"God! God!" she breathed, running ever faster.

The streets were deserted and she was frightened by the sound of her
own footsteps, by the hacks that she met at the street corners, by
the shadows that fell from the house walls and by that awful stony
silence of the sleeping city in which there seemed to tremble sounds
of weeping, sobs, and some horrible, dissolute laughter and drunke