have been Mr. Shimerda's memories, not yet
faded out from the air in which they had
haunted him.

It had begun to grow dark when my house-
hold returned, and grandmother was so tired
that she went at once to bed. Jake and I got
supper, and while we were washing the dishes
he told me in loud whispers about the state of
things over at the Shimerdas'. Nobody could
touch the body until the coroner came. If
any one did, something terrible would hap-
pen, apparently. The dead man was frozen
through, "just as stiff as a dressed turkey
you hang out to freeze," Jake said. The horses
and oxen would not go into the barn until he
was frozen so hard that there was no longer
any smell of blood. They were stabled there
now, with the dead man, because there was
no other place to keep them. A lighted lan-
tern was kept hanging over Mr. Shimerda's
head. Antonia and Ambrosch and the mother
took turns going down to pray beside him.
The crazy boy went with them, because he did
not feel the cold. I believed he felt cold as
much as any one else, but he liked to be
thought insensible to it. He was always covet-
ing distinction, poor Marek!

[[117]]

p116 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p117w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p118

v?