paid for and his people had a home. So he told them, and
so in the end the decision was made.

They had talked about looking at more houses before
they made the purchase; but then they did not know
where any more were, and they did not know any way of
finding out. The one they had seen held the sway in their
thoughts; whenever they thought of themselves in a
house, it was this house that they thought of. And so
they went and told the agent that they were ready to
make the agreement. They knew, as an abstract proposi~
tion, that in matters of business all men are to be accounted
liars; but they could not but have been influenced by all
they had heard from the eloquent agent, and were quite
persuaded that the house was something they had run a
risk of losing by their delay. They drew a deep breath
when he told them that they were still in time.

They were to come on the morrow, and he would have
the papers all drawn up. This matter of papers was one
in which Jurgis understood to the full the need of cau~
tion; yet he could not go himself -- everyone told him
that he could not get a holiday, and that he might lose his
job by asking. So there was nothing to be done but to
trust it to the women, with Szedvilas, who promised to go
with them. Jurgis spent a whole evening impressing
upon them the seriousness of the occasion -- and then
finally, out of innumerable hiding-places about their per~
sons and in their baggage, came forth the precious wads
of money, to be done up tightly in a little bag and sewed
fast in the lining of Teta Elzbieta's dress.

Early in the morning they sallied forth. Jurgis had
given them so many instructions and warned them against
so many perils, that the women were quite pale with
fright, and even the imperturbable delicatessen vender,
who prided himself upon being a businessman, was ill at
ease. The agent had the deed all ready, and invited them to
sit down and read it; this Szedvilas proceeded to do -- a
painful and laborious process, during which the agent
drummed upon the desk. Teta Elzbieta was so embar~
rassed that the perspiration came out upon her forehead in

[[58]]

p057 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p058w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p059

v?