wn by
regiments like grass. Regiment after regiment galloped on and fell from
the saddle; whenever a regiment fell, the Emperor took a pinch of snuff,
until finally Alexander with his little brother Constantine and the German
Emperor Francis fled from the field. So the Emperor, seeing that the fight
was over, gazed at them, laughed, and dusted his fingers. And now if any
of you gentlemen who are present here ever serves in the army of the
Emperor, let him remember this."

"Ah! my dear Monk!" cried Skoluba, "when will that be? Why, on every
holiday set down in the calendar they prophesy to us that the French are
coming, A man looks and looks until his eyes are weary, but the Muscovite
keeps on holding us by the neck as he always has. I fear that before the
sun rises the dew will ruin our eyes."

"Sir, it is womanish to complain," said the Bernardine, "and a Jewish
trick to wait with folded hands until some one rides up to the tavern and
knocks on the door. With Napoleon it is not so hard to beat the
Muscovites; he has already three times thrashed the hide of the Suabians,
he has trodden down the nasty Prussians, and has cast back the English
straight across the sea: surely he will be equal to the Muscovites. But,
my dear sir, do you know what will be the result? The gentry of Lithuania
will mount their steeds and seize their sabres, but not until there is no
longer any enemy with whom to fight. Napoleon, after crushing everybody
alone, will finally say: 'I can get along without you: who are you?' So it
is not enough to await a guest, not enough even to invite him in; one
needs to gather the servants and set up the tables; and before the banquet
one must clean the house of dirt; clean the house, I repeat; clean the
house, my boys!"

A silence followed, and then voices in the throng:--

"How clean our house? What do you mean by that? We will do everything for
you, we are ready for anything; only, my dear Father, pray explain
yourself more clearly."

The Monk glanced out of the window, interrupting the conversation; he
noticed something peculiar, and put his head out of the window. In a
moment he said, rising:--

"To-day we have no time, later we will talk together more at length.
To-morrow I shall be in the district town on business, and on the way I
will call on you gentlemen to gather alms."

"Then call at Niehrymow to spend the night," said the Steward; "the Ensign
will be glad to see you, sir. An old Lithuanian