wever,
there was but one sentiment in his heart--revenge. Too well he
remembered the ignominious defeat he had experienced within those walls,
and at the recollection of Kathinka, the base passion which absence had
not subdued broke forth again and transformed the man into a savage.
There was no pity, no mercy to be expected from him.

At the windows of Winenki's house stood the women, their faces blanched
with fear as they looked upon the blood-thirsty army without.

"Down with the door!" shouted Loris, and a dozen ready hands shook the
door upon its fastenings.

Suddenly the men stopped in their mad work. Mikail the monk had rushed
into their midst. His priestly robes were torn and covered with mud, his
eyes were bloodshot, his face the picture of wild despair; his bosom
heaved and his clenched hands gyrated madly in an effort to command
silence.

"Men of Kief!" he cried, hoarsely, "this bloody work must cease. In the
name of the Czar I command you to go to your homes and molest the Jews
no further! They are innocent of the charges brought against them."

"Ha! ha! ha!" laughed Loris. "Since when has Mikail turned protector of
the Jews?"

"They are innocent, I tell you!" cried the priest. "Leave them in
peace!"

"Down with the Jews!" cried one of the band. "The Czar has given us
their property and we will have it!"

"It is false!" shouted Mikail. "The _ukase_ is a forgery. I myself wrote
it and had it circulated. It never had the Czar's sanction."

"The priest is mad!" cried Loris. "For three years he has incited us to
enmity against the Jews and now he pleads their cause. On with the work!
We have much to do before night."

"In the name of his majesty, I command you to cease!" yelled the priest,
in a hoarse voice.

"In the name of the Governor of Kief, I command you to go on!" shouted
Loris. "Down with Rabbi Winenki and his family! Down with the miserable
race that killed our Saviour!"

The battering at the door was resumed with renewed vigor. A cry of
triumph announced to the crowd that the barrier was down, and a portion
of the infuriated mob rushed into the house.

In vain did Mikail circulate among the men, by turns commanding and
pleading, to induce them to desist from their work of destruction.

They looked at him askance and then at each other, significantly. But
yesterday this same priest spurred them on to vengeance, filling them
with passion against the people whose cause he now espoused.