VIIIt was still light when she got down off the car step and turned into the narrow street, still sniffing at the dry sprig of thyme which she had kept tightly clasped in her hand all the time.Out of the gathering dusk, an old woman came running towards her.“It is you, Mattina! It is you! And they said you would never come back.”Mattina looked around her anxiously.“Why did they say that, Kyra Polyxene? Is it so late?”“No, it is not late. But you will find trouble for you at the house. Your mistress has lost money … much money … a twenty-five drachmæ note, and she says that only you can have taken it.”Mattina fell back a step and stared up at the old woman.“I?”“Yes, and your mistress got your bundle andtook out all your things and threw them here and there; but she found naught, and she is spoiling the world with her screams.”“Come!” said Mattina, “let me go and tell her she does not know what she says.”But the old woman pulled her back.“Listen, my girl! You are but a little one, without a whole shoe to your foot, and these people count every mouthful of bread you put into your mouth …. If it was in an evil moment?… Give it to me! and if it be not changed, I will put it where they may find it and the noise will be over.”“You, also, do not know what you say,” and Mattina dragged her arm away and ran into the house.The door of the living-room was open, and from it came the sound of angry voices and loud cries.Mattina walked right in.“I am here,” she announced, “and neither have I seen your ….”But she could not finish her sentence; a furiously angry woman rushed at her, caught her by the shoulder, and shook her viciously.“You thief!” she screamed. “You littlethief! This is how you repay me for taking you in! And you have the face to speak also!”If Mattina had been a poor little servant all her life, and if her parents had been servants before her, she would perhaps have insisted on her innocence more respectfully, but until lately she had always lived with her equals, and also she was the child of free islanders, who had never called any one their master.With both hands she pushed her mistress away from her as hard as she could push.“Leave me! Leave me I tell you! I a thief! I! It is you are a liar for saying so!”But two heavy blows sent her staggering against the table.Then it seemed as though all the people in the room were about to fall upon her, and she crouched there with uplifted arm to protect her head.The master pushed aside his wife.“Wait a moment!” he said. “Letmespeak to her!” then to Mattina:—“Tell me now what you have done with the money?”“I never saw it, I tell you.”“That does not pass with me; you have hidden it somewhere, or given it to someone.”“Since I tell you I never saw it!”“There is no one else in the house to take it. If you did not see it, where is it?”“Do I know?” said Mattina, sullenly. “Is she not always losing her things?” and she pointed to her mistress.Now because the woman was really constantly mislaying her belongings, this made her still more furious. She darted at Mattina.“Wait till I show her!” and she struck her so hard a blow on the mouth, that Mattina screamed and covered her face with both arms.Her mistress raised her hand again but one of her sisters pulled her back.“Find the money first,” she said. “What do you gain by beating her?”“You are right. If she has it on her, I will find it.”And the woman went down on her knees and felt over Mattina, pulling her frock roughly about. In a moment she found the pins that closed the opening of the pocket, and dragged them out, thrusting her hand inside.“Here it is!” she screamed triumphantly. “See! I have it!” and she waved the folded note which she pulled out of the pocket. But as soon as she looked at it, her tone changed to one of bitter disappointment.“She has changed it, the shameless one, and this is all that remains!”Mattina tried to snatch it from her.“That is mine! That is mine! That is not yours! It is five drachmæ. Give it to me! It is mine I tell you.”Her mistress laughed aloud.“She told Taki here that she had not a ‘lepton’ of her own.”“That was before,” cried Mattina, wildly, beginning to sob. “That was before I had this. This is mine! It is mine! On my father’s soul, I tell you it is mine!”“If it be yours,” asked one of the sisters, “where did you find it?”“She gave it to me.”“She! What she?”“She, the Madmazella from the next house.”“She tells lies!” broke in her mistress. “A governess, who works one day that she may eat the next! Has she money to give?”“When did she give it to you?” asked the master.“When she went away in the carriage to go to her country.”Then they all laughed.“Ah, of course, you thought of someone who has gone away and whom we cannot ask! You are very clever, my girl, but your cleverness will not pass with us!”“Now, enough words,” said her mistress. “I shall lock her up in her room and send for the police inspector. Perhaps in prison they may get the truth out of her.”Mattina turned as pale as wax.She knew what prison was. Even in Poros she had seen men with their arms tied back with ropes, taken to Nauplia24to the big prison of the “Palamidi”;25and she had heard tales of those who had returned from there!“To prison!” she gasped. “To prison! I?”“Of course,” said her mistress, enjoying her terror. “Did you think that you could steal and then stay in honest houses? Now you will see what will happen to you, you little thief!”Mattina stumbled back against the wall.The sweat sprang out on her face, she kept wetting her lips, and her hands groped before her as though she were in the dark.Her mistress seized hold of her arm and pulled her towards the open door of the room. For the first moments she struggled wildly, and then feeling how useless it was, she let herself be dragged out of the door and up the few steps to her little dark room. Her mistress pushed open the door with her foot and thrust Mattina in so violently that she fell upon the mattress in the further corner. Then the key was pulled out of the keyhole, and the door locked and double-locked on the outside; then Mattina heard her mistress’s heavy tread descending to the room below.It was quite dark already. Mattina was never allowed a candle in her room, nor even a floating wick in a tumbler of oil. “As though,” her mistress had said, “it were necessary to burn good oil for a serving maid to pull off her clothes and tumble on to her mattress.” As a rule she was so tired and sleepy, she did not mind; but now she was very frightened indeed, and fear is always worse in the dark.She lay there, where she had been flung, huddled up against the wall, her eyes hidden in the bend of her arm.Prison! They would send her to prison! She had heard of a man in Poros, Andoni, the joiner, who had broken open the money box of Sotiro, the coffee-house keeper, in the night, and he had been kept ten years in prison! She did not know how much money he had taken; she had never heard. How long would they keep her in prison if they thought she had stolen twenty-five drachmæ; it was a great deal of money! And what would they do to her in prison? Was it a dark place under the ground? Oh, why was her father, her own “babba,” not alive to beat off the men of the police who would soon be coming to fetch her?For a long time she cried and sobbed on the mattress without moving. When she opened her eyes she could distinguish nothing in the room, the darkness was like a thick black veil covering everything. There were voices, but they seemed distant; the house seemed still, with the stillness that brings terror with it.Suddenly the dark seemed full of big handswith hooked fingers stretching out to clutch at her.She ran wildly to the door and shook it, screaming aloud.“Oh, my mother! My mother! Manitsa!26Where are you?”
VIIIt was still light when she got down off the car step and turned into the narrow street, still sniffing at the dry sprig of thyme which she had kept tightly clasped in her hand all the time.Out of the gathering dusk, an old woman came running towards her.“It is you, Mattina! It is you! And they said you would never come back.”Mattina looked around her anxiously.“Why did they say that, Kyra Polyxene? Is it so late?”“No, it is not late. But you will find trouble for you at the house. Your mistress has lost money … much money … a twenty-five drachmæ note, and she says that only you can have taken it.”Mattina fell back a step and stared up at the old woman.“I?”“Yes, and your mistress got your bundle andtook out all your things and threw them here and there; but she found naught, and she is spoiling the world with her screams.”“Come!” said Mattina, “let me go and tell her she does not know what she says.”But the old woman pulled her back.“Listen, my girl! You are but a little one, without a whole shoe to your foot, and these people count every mouthful of bread you put into your mouth …. If it was in an evil moment?… Give it to me! and if it be not changed, I will put it where they may find it and the noise will be over.”“You, also, do not know what you say,” and Mattina dragged her arm away and ran into the house.The door of the living-room was open, and from it came the sound of angry voices and loud cries.Mattina walked right in.“I am here,” she announced, “and neither have I seen your ….”But she could not finish her sentence; a furiously angry woman rushed at her, caught her by the shoulder, and shook her viciously.“You thief!” she screamed. “You littlethief! This is how you repay me for taking you in! And you have the face to speak also!”If Mattina had been a poor little servant all her life, and if her parents had been servants before her, she would perhaps have insisted on her innocence more respectfully, but until lately she had always lived with her equals, and also she was the child of free islanders, who had never called any one their master.With both hands she pushed her mistress away from her as hard as she could push.“Leave me! Leave me I tell you! I a thief! I! It is you are a liar for saying so!”But two heavy blows sent her staggering against the table.Then it seemed as though all the people in the room were about to fall upon her, and she crouched there with uplifted arm to protect her head.The master pushed aside his wife.“Wait a moment!” he said. “Letmespeak to her!” then to Mattina:—“Tell me now what you have done with the money?”“I never saw it, I tell you.”“That does not pass with me; you have hidden it somewhere, or given it to someone.”“Since I tell you I never saw it!”“There is no one else in the house to take it. If you did not see it, where is it?”“Do I know?” said Mattina, sullenly. “Is she not always losing her things?” and she pointed to her mistress.Now because the woman was really constantly mislaying her belongings, this made her still more furious. She darted at Mattina.“Wait till I show her!” and she struck her so hard a blow on the mouth, that Mattina screamed and covered her face with both arms.Her mistress raised her hand again but one of her sisters pulled her back.“Find the money first,” she said. “What do you gain by beating her?”“You are right. If she has it on her, I will find it.”And the woman went down on her knees and felt over Mattina, pulling her frock roughly about. In a moment she found the pins that closed the opening of the pocket, and dragged them out, thrusting her hand inside.“Here it is!” she screamed triumphantly. “See! I have it!” and she waved the folded note which she pulled out of the pocket. But as soon as she looked at it, her tone changed to one of bitter disappointment.“She has changed it, the shameless one, and this is all that remains!”Mattina tried to snatch it from her.“That is mine! That is mine! That is not yours! It is five drachmæ. Give it to me! It is mine I tell you.”Her mistress laughed aloud.“She told Taki here that she had not a ‘lepton’ of her own.”“That was before,” cried Mattina, wildly, beginning to sob. “That was before I had this. This is mine! It is mine! On my father’s soul, I tell you it is mine!”“If it be yours,” asked one of the sisters, “where did you find it?”“She gave it to me.”“She! What she?”“She, the Madmazella from the next house.”“She tells lies!” broke in her mistress. “A governess, who works one day that she may eat the next! Has she money to give?”“When did she give it to you?” asked the master.“When she went away in the carriage to go to her country.”Then they all laughed.“Ah, of course, you thought of someone who has gone away and whom we cannot ask! You are very clever, my girl, but your cleverness will not pass with us!”“Now, enough words,” said her mistress. “I shall lock her up in her room and send for the police inspector. Perhaps in prison they may get the truth out of her.”Mattina turned as pale as wax.She knew what prison was. Even in Poros she had seen men with their arms tied back with ropes, taken to Nauplia24to the big prison of the “Palamidi”;25and she had heard tales of those who had returned from there!“To prison!” she gasped. “To prison! I?”“Of course,” said her mistress, enjoying her terror. “Did you think that you could steal and then stay in honest houses? Now you will see what will happen to you, you little thief!”Mattina stumbled back against the wall.The sweat sprang out on her face, she kept wetting her lips, and her hands groped before her as though she were in the dark.Her mistress seized hold of her arm and pulled her towards the open door of the room. For the first moments she struggled wildly, and then feeling how useless it was, she let herself be dragged out of the door and up the few steps to her little dark room. Her mistress pushed open the door with her foot and thrust Mattina in so violently that she fell upon the mattress in the further corner. Then the key was pulled out of the keyhole, and the door locked and double-locked on the outside; then Mattina heard her mistress’s heavy tread descending to the room below.It was quite dark already. Mattina was never allowed a candle in her room, nor even a floating wick in a tumbler of oil. “As though,” her mistress had said, “it were necessary to burn good oil for a serving maid to pull off her clothes and tumble on to her mattress.” As a rule she was so tired and sleepy, she did not mind; but now she was very frightened indeed, and fear is always worse in the dark.She lay there, where she had been flung, huddled up against the wall, her eyes hidden in the bend of her arm.Prison! They would send her to prison! She had heard of a man in Poros, Andoni, the joiner, who had broken open the money box of Sotiro, the coffee-house keeper, in the night, and he had been kept ten years in prison! She did not know how much money he had taken; she had never heard. How long would they keep her in prison if they thought she had stolen twenty-five drachmæ; it was a great deal of money! And what would they do to her in prison? Was it a dark place under the ground? Oh, why was her father, her own “babba,” not alive to beat off the men of the police who would soon be coming to fetch her?For a long time she cried and sobbed on the mattress without moving. When she opened her eyes she could distinguish nothing in the room, the darkness was like a thick black veil covering everything. There were voices, but they seemed distant; the house seemed still, with the stillness that brings terror with it.Suddenly the dark seemed full of big handswith hooked fingers stretching out to clutch at her.She ran wildly to the door and shook it, screaming aloud.“Oh, my mother! My mother! Manitsa!26Where are you?”
VIIIt was still light when she got down off the car step and turned into the narrow street, still sniffing at the dry sprig of thyme which she had kept tightly clasped in her hand all the time.Out of the gathering dusk, an old woman came running towards her.“It is you, Mattina! It is you! And they said you would never come back.”Mattina looked around her anxiously.“Why did they say that, Kyra Polyxene? Is it so late?”“No, it is not late. But you will find trouble for you at the house. Your mistress has lost money … much money … a twenty-five drachmæ note, and she says that only you can have taken it.”Mattina fell back a step and stared up at the old woman.“I?”“Yes, and your mistress got your bundle andtook out all your things and threw them here and there; but she found naught, and she is spoiling the world with her screams.”“Come!” said Mattina, “let me go and tell her she does not know what she says.”But the old woman pulled her back.“Listen, my girl! You are but a little one, without a whole shoe to your foot, and these people count every mouthful of bread you put into your mouth …. If it was in an evil moment?… Give it to me! and if it be not changed, I will put it where they may find it and the noise will be over.”“You, also, do not know what you say,” and Mattina dragged her arm away and ran into the house.The door of the living-room was open, and from it came the sound of angry voices and loud cries.Mattina walked right in.“I am here,” she announced, “and neither have I seen your ….”But she could not finish her sentence; a furiously angry woman rushed at her, caught her by the shoulder, and shook her viciously.“You thief!” she screamed. “You littlethief! This is how you repay me for taking you in! And you have the face to speak also!”If Mattina had been a poor little servant all her life, and if her parents had been servants before her, she would perhaps have insisted on her innocence more respectfully, but until lately she had always lived with her equals, and also she was the child of free islanders, who had never called any one their master.With both hands she pushed her mistress away from her as hard as she could push.“Leave me! Leave me I tell you! I a thief! I! It is you are a liar for saying so!”But two heavy blows sent her staggering against the table.Then it seemed as though all the people in the room were about to fall upon her, and she crouched there with uplifted arm to protect her head.The master pushed aside his wife.“Wait a moment!” he said. “Letmespeak to her!” then to Mattina:—“Tell me now what you have done with the money?”“I never saw it, I tell you.”“That does not pass with me; you have hidden it somewhere, or given it to someone.”“Since I tell you I never saw it!”“There is no one else in the house to take it. If you did not see it, where is it?”“Do I know?” said Mattina, sullenly. “Is she not always losing her things?” and she pointed to her mistress.Now because the woman was really constantly mislaying her belongings, this made her still more furious. She darted at Mattina.“Wait till I show her!” and she struck her so hard a blow on the mouth, that Mattina screamed and covered her face with both arms.Her mistress raised her hand again but one of her sisters pulled her back.“Find the money first,” she said. “What do you gain by beating her?”“You are right. If she has it on her, I will find it.”And the woman went down on her knees and felt over Mattina, pulling her frock roughly about. In a moment she found the pins that closed the opening of the pocket, and dragged them out, thrusting her hand inside.“Here it is!” she screamed triumphantly. “See! I have it!” and she waved the folded note which she pulled out of the pocket. But as soon as she looked at it, her tone changed to one of bitter disappointment.“She has changed it, the shameless one, and this is all that remains!”Mattina tried to snatch it from her.“That is mine! That is mine! That is not yours! It is five drachmæ. Give it to me! It is mine I tell you.”Her mistress laughed aloud.“She told Taki here that she had not a ‘lepton’ of her own.”“That was before,” cried Mattina, wildly, beginning to sob. “That was before I had this. This is mine! It is mine! On my father’s soul, I tell you it is mine!”“If it be yours,” asked one of the sisters, “where did you find it?”“She gave it to me.”“She! What she?”“She, the Madmazella from the next house.”“She tells lies!” broke in her mistress. “A governess, who works one day that she may eat the next! Has she money to give?”“When did she give it to you?” asked the master.“When she went away in the carriage to go to her country.”Then they all laughed.“Ah, of course, you thought of someone who has gone away and whom we cannot ask! You are very clever, my girl, but your cleverness will not pass with us!”“Now, enough words,” said her mistress. “I shall lock her up in her room and send for the police inspector. Perhaps in prison they may get the truth out of her.”Mattina turned as pale as wax.She knew what prison was. Even in Poros she had seen men with their arms tied back with ropes, taken to Nauplia24to the big prison of the “Palamidi”;25and she had heard tales of those who had returned from there!“To prison!” she gasped. “To prison! I?”“Of course,” said her mistress, enjoying her terror. “Did you think that you could steal and then stay in honest houses? Now you will see what will happen to you, you little thief!”Mattina stumbled back against the wall.The sweat sprang out on her face, she kept wetting her lips, and her hands groped before her as though she were in the dark.Her mistress seized hold of her arm and pulled her towards the open door of the room. For the first moments she struggled wildly, and then feeling how useless it was, she let herself be dragged out of the door and up the few steps to her little dark room. Her mistress pushed open the door with her foot and thrust Mattina in so violently that she fell upon the mattress in the further corner. Then the key was pulled out of the keyhole, and the door locked and double-locked on the outside; then Mattina heard her mistress’s heavy tread descending to the room below.It was quite dark already. Mattina was never allowed a candle in her room, nor even a floating wick in a tumbler of oil. “As though,” her mistress had said, “it were necessary to burn good oil for a serving maid to pull off her clothes and tumble on to her mattress.” As a rule she was so tired and sleepy, she did not mind; but now she was very frightened indeed, and fear is always worse in the dark.She lay there, where she had been flung, huddled up against the wall, her eyes hidden in the bend of her arm.Prison! They would send her to prison! She had heard of a man in Poros, Andoni, the joiner, who had broken open the money box of Sotiro, the coffee-house keeper, in the night, and he had been kept ten years in prison! She did not know how much money he had taken; she had never heard. How long would they keep her in prison if they thought she had stolen twenty-five drachmæ; it was a great deal of money! And what would they do to her in prison? Was it a dark place under the ground? Oh, why was her father, her own “babba,” not alive to beat off the men of the police who would soon be coming to fetch her?For a long time she cried and sobbed on the mattress without moving. When she opened her eyes she could distinguish nothing in the room, the darkness was like a thick black veil covering everything. There were voices, but they seemed distant; the house seemed still, with the stillness that brings terror with it.Suddenly the dark seemed full of big handswith hooked fingers stretching out to clutch at her.She ran wildly to the door and shook it, screaming aloud.“Oh, my mother! My mother! Manitsa!26Where are you?”
VIIIt was still light when she got down off the car step and turned into the narrow street, still sniffing at the dry sprig of thyme which she had kept tightly clasped in her hand all the time.Out of the gathering dusk, an old woman came running towards her.“It is you, Mattina! It is you! And they said you would never come back.”Mattina looked around her anxiously.“Why did they say that, Kyra Polyxene? Is it so late?”“No, it is not late. But you will find trouble for you at the house. Your mistress has lost money … much money … a twenty-five drachmæ note, and she says that only you can have taken it.”Mattina fell back a step and stared up at the old woman.“I?”“Yes, and your mistress got your bundle andtook out all your things and threw them here and there; but she found naught, and she is spoiling the world with her screams.”“Come!” said Mattina, “let me go and tell her she does not know what she says.”But the old woman pulled her back.“Listen, my girl! You are but a little one, without a whole shoe to your foot, and these people count every mouthful of bread you put into your mouth …. If it was in an evil moment?… Give it to me! and if it be not changed, I will put it where they may find it and the noise will be over.”“You, also, do not know what you say,” and Mattina dragged her arm away and ran into the house.The door of the living-room was open, and from it came the sound of angry voices and loud cries.Mattina walked right in.“I am here,” she announced, “and neither have I seen your ….”But she could not finish her sentence; a furiously angry woman rushed at her, caught her by the shoulder, and shook her viciously.“You thief!” she screamed. “You littlethief! This is how you repay me for taking you in! And you have the face to speak also!”If Mattina had been a poor little servant all her life, and if her parents had been servants before her, she would perhaps have insisted on her innocence more respectfully, but until lately she had always lived with her equals, and also she was the child of free islanders, who had never called any one their master.With both hands she pushed her mistress away from her as hard as she could push.“Leave me! Leave me I tell you! I a thief! I! It is you are a liar for saying so!”But two heavy blows sent her staggering against the table.Then it seemed as though all the people in the room were about to fall upon her, and she crouched there with uplifted arm to protect her head.The master pushed aside his wife.“Wait a moment!” he said. “Letmespeak to her!” then to Mattina:—“Tell me now what you have done with the money?”“I never saw it, I tell you.”“That does not pass with me; you have hidden it somewhere, or given it to someone.”“Since I tell you I never saw it!”“There is no one else in the house to take it. If you did not see it, where is it?”“Do I know?” said Mattina, sullenly. “Is she not always losing her things?” and she pointed to her mistress.Now because the woman was really constantly mislaying her belongings, this made her still more furious. She darted at Mattina.“Wait till I show her!” and she struck her so hard a blow on the mouth, that Mattina screamed and covered her face with both arms.Her mistress raised her hand again but one of her sisters pulled her back.“Find the money first,” she said. “What do you gain by beating her?”“You are right. If she has it on her, I will find it.”And the woman went down on her knees and felt over Mattina, pulling her frock roughly about. In a moment she found the pins that closed the opening of the pocket, and dragged them out, thrusting her hand inside.“Here it is!” she screamed triumphantly. “See! I have it!” and she waved the folded note which she pulled out of the pocket. But as soon as she looked at it, her tone changed to one of bitter disappointment.“She has changed it, the shameless one, and this is all that remains!”Mattina tried to snatch it from her.“That is mine! That is mine! That is not yours! It is five drachmæ. Give it to me! It is mine I tell you.”Her mistress laughed aloud.“She told Taki here that she had not a ‘lepton’ of her own.”“That was before,” cried Mattina, wildly, beginning to sob. “That was before I had this. This is mine! It is mine! On my father’s soul, I tell you it is mine!”“If it be yours,” asked one of the sisters, “where did you find it?”“She gave it to me.”“She! What she?”“She, the Madmazella from the next house.”“She tells lies!” broke in her mistress. “A governess, who works one day that she may eat the next! Has she money to give?”“When did she give it to you?” asked the master.“When she went away in the carriage to go to her country.”Then they all laughed.“Ah, of course, you thought of someone who has gone away and whom we cannot ask! You are very clever, my girl, but your cleverness will not pass with us!”“Now, enough words,” said her mistress. “I shall lock her up in her room and send for the police inspector. Perhaps in prison they may get the truth out of her.”Mattina turned as pale as wax.She knew what prison was. Even in Poros she had seen men with their arms tied back with ropes, taken to Nauplia24to the big prison of the “Palamidi”;25and she had heard tales of those who had returned from there!“To prison!” she gasped. “To prison! I?”“Of course,” said her mistress, enjoying her terror. “Did you think that you could steal and then stay in honest houses? Now you will see what will happen to you, you little thief!”Mattina stumbled back against the wall.The sweat sprang out on her face, she kept wetting her lips, and her hands groped before her as though she were in the dark.Her mistress seized hold of her arm and pulled her towards the open door of the room. For the first moments she struggled wildly, and then feeling how useless it was, she let herself be dragged out of the door and up the few steps to her little dark room. Her mistress pushed open the door with her foot and thrust Mattina in so violently that she fell upon the mattress in the further corner. Then the key was pulled out of the keyhole, and the door locked and double-locked on the outside; then Mattina heard her mistress’s heavy tread descending to the room below.It was quite dark already. Mattina was never allowed a candle in her room, nor even a floating wick in a tumbler of oil. “As though,” her mistress had said, “it were necessary to burn good oil for a serving maid to pull off her clothes and tumble on to her mattress.” As a rule she was so tired and sleepy, she did not mind; but now she was very frightened indeed, and fear is always worse in the dark.She lay there, where she had been flung, huddled up against the wall, her eyes hidden in the bend of her arm.Prison! They would send her to prison! She had heard of a man in Poros, Andoni, the joiner, who had broken open the money box of Sotiro, the coffee-house keeper, in the night, and he had been kept ten years in prison! She did not know how much money he had taken; she had never heard. How long would they keep her in prison if they thought she had stolen twenty-five drachmæ; it was a great deal of money! And what would they do to her in prison? Was it a dark place under the ground? Oh, why was her father, her own “babba,” not alive to beat off the men of the police who would soon be coming to fetch her?For a long time she cried and sobbed on the mattress without moving. When she opened her eyes she could distinguish nothing in the room, the darkness was like a thick black veil covering everything. There were voices, but they seemed distant; the house seemed still, with the stillness that brings terror with it.Suddenly the dark seemed full of big handswith hooked fingers stretching out to clutch at her.She ran wildly to the door and shook it, screaming aloud.“Oh, my mother! My mother! Manitsa!26Where are you?”
VII
It was still light when she got down off the car step and turned into the narrow street, still sniffing at the dry sprig of thyme which she had kept tightly clasped in her hand all the time.Out of the gathering dusk, an old woman came running towards her.“It is you, Mattina! It is you! And they said you would never come back.”Mattina looked around her anxiously.“Why did they say that, Kyra Polyxene? Is it so late?”“No, it is not late. But you will find trouble for you at the house. Your mistress has lost money … much money … a twenty-five drachmæ note, and she says that only you can have taken it.”Mattina fell back a step and stared up at the old woman.“I?”“Yes, and your mistress got your bundle andtook out all your things and threw them here and there; but she found naught, and she is spoiling the world with her screams.”“Come!” said Mattina, “let me go and tell her she does not know what she says.”But the old woman pulled her back.“Listen, my girl! You are but a little one, without a whole shoe to your foot, and these people count every mouthful of bread you put into your mouth …. If it was in an evil moment?… Give it to me! and if it be not changed, I will put it where they may find it and the noise will be over.”“You, also, do not know what you say,” and Mattina dragged her arm away and ran into the house.The door of the living-room was open, and from it came the sound of angry voices and loud cries.Mattina walked right in.“I am here,” she announced, “and neither have I seen your ….”But she could not finish her sentence; a furiously angry woman rushed at her, caught her by the shoulder, and shook her viciously.“You thief!” she screamed. “You littlethief! This is how you repay me for taking you in! And you have the face to speak also!”If Mattina had been a poor little servant all her life, and if her parents had been servants before her, she would perhaps have insisted on her innocence more respectfully, but until lately she had always lived with her equals, and also she was the child of free islanders, who had never called any one their master.With both hands she pushed her mistress away from her as hard as she could push.“Leave me! Leave me I tell you! I a thief! I! It is you are a liar for saying so!”But two heavy blows sent her staggering against the table.Then it seemed as though all the people in the room were about to fall upon her, and she crouched there with uplifted arm to protect her head.The master pushed aside his wife.“Wait a moment!” he said. “Letmespeak to her!” then to Mattina:—“Tell me now what you have done with the money?”“I never saw it, I tell you.”“That does not pass with me; you have hidden it somewhere, or given it to someone.”“Since I tell you I never saw it!”“There is no one else in the house to take it. If you did not see it, where is it?”“Do I know?” said Mattina, sullenly. “Is she not always losing her things?” and she pointed to her mistress.Now because the woman was really constantly mislaying her belongings, this made her still more furious. She darted at Mattina.“Wait till I show her!” and she struck her so hard a blow on the mouth, that Mattina screamed and covered her face with both arms.Her mistress raised her hand again but one of her sisters pulled her back.“Find the money first,” she said. “What do you gain by beating her?”“You are right. If she has it on her, I will find it.”And the woman went down on her knees and felt over Mattina, pulling her frock roughly about. In a moment she found the pins that closed the opening of the pocket, and dragged them out, thrusting her hand inside.“Here it is!” she screamed triumphantly. “See! I have it!” and she waved the folded note which she pulled out of the pocket. But as soon as she looked at it, her tone changed to one of bitter disappointment.“She has changed it, the shameless one, and this is all that remains!”Mattina tried to snatch it from her.“That is mine! That is mine! That is not yours! It is five drachmæ. Give it to me! It is mine I tell you.”Her mistress laughed aloud.“She told Taki here that she had not a ‘lepton’ of her own.”“That was before,” cried Mattina, wildly, beginning to sob. “That was before I had this. This is mine! It is mine! On my father’s soul, I tell you it is mine!”“If it be yours,” asked one of the sisters, “where did you find it?”“She gave it to me.”“She! What she?”“She, the Madmazella from the next house.”“She tells lies!” broke in her mistress. “A governess, who works one day that she may eat the next! Has she money to give?”“When did she give it to you?” asked the master.“When she went away in the carriage to go to her country.”Then they all laughed.“Ah, of course, you thought of someone who has gone away and whom we cannot ask! You are very clever, my girl, but your cleverness will not pass with us!”“Now, enough words,” said her mistress. “I shall lock her up in her room and send for the police inspector. Perhaps in prison they may get the truth out of her.”Mattina turned as pale as wax.She knew what prison was. Even in Poros she had seen men with their arms tied back with ropes, taken to Nauplia24to the big prison of the “Palamidi”;25and she had heard tales of those who had returned from there!“To prison!” she gasped. “To prison! I?”“Of course,” said her mistress, enjoying her terror. “Did you think that you could steal and then stay in honest houses? Now you will see what will happen to you, you little thief!”Mattina stumbled back against the wall.The sweat sprang out on her face, she kept wetting her lips, and her hands groped before her as though she were in the dark.Her mistress seized hold of her arm and pulled her towards the open door of the room. For the first moments she struggled wildly, and then feeling how useless it was, she let herself be dragged out of the door and up the few steps to her little dark room. Her mistress pushed open the door with her foot and thrust Mattina in so violently that she fell upon the mattress in the further corner. Then the key was pulled out of the keyhole, and the door locked and double-locked on the outside; then Mattina heard her mistress’s heavy tread descending to the room below.It was quite dark already. Mattina was never allowed a candle in her room, nor even a floating wick in a tumbler of oil. “As though,” her mistress had said, “it were necessary to burn good oil for a serving maid to pull off her clothes and tumble on to her mattress.” As a rule she was so tired and sleepy, she did not mind; but now she was very frightened indeed, and fear is always worse in the dark.She lay there, where she had been flung, huddled up against the wall, her eyes hidden in the bend of her arm.Prison! They would send her to prison! She had heard of a man in Poros, Andoni, the joiner, who had broken open the money box of Sotiro, the coffee-house keeper, in the night, and he had been kept ten years in prison! She did not know how much money he had taken; she had never heard. How long would they keep her in prison if they thought she had stolen twenty-five drachmæ; it was a great deal of money! And what would they do to her in prison? Was it a dark place under the ground? Oh, why was her father, her own “babba,” not alive to beat off the men of the police who would soon be coming to fetch her?For a long time she cried and sobbed on the mattress without moving. When she opened her eyes she could distinguish nothing in the room, the darkness was like a thick black veil covering everything. There were voices, but they seemed distant; the house seemed still, with the stillness that brings terror with it.Suddenly the dark seemed full of big handswith hooked fingers stretching out to clutch at her.She ran wildly to the door and shook it, screaming aloud.“Oh, my mother! My mother! Manitsa!26Where are you?”
It was still light when she got down off the car step and turned into the narrow street, still sniffing at the dry sprig of thyme which she had kept tightly clasped in her hand all the time.
Out of the gathering dusk, an old woman came running towards her.
“It is you, Mattina! It is you! And they said you would never come back.”
Mattina looked around her anxiously.
“Why did they say that, Kyra Polyxene? Is it so late?”
“No, it is not late. But you will find trouble for you at the house. Your mistress has lost money … much money … a twenty-five drachmæ note, and she says that only you can have taken it.”
Mattina fell back a step and stared up at the old woman.
“I?”
“Yes, and your mistress got your bundle andtook out all your things and threw them here and there; but she found naught, and she is spoiling the world with her screams.”
“Come!” said Mattina, “let me go and tell her she does not know what she says.”
But the old woman pulled her back.
“Listen, my girl! You are but a little one, without a whole shoe to your foot, and these people count every mouthful of bread you put into your mouth …. If it was in an evil moment?… Give it to me! and if it be not changed, I will put it where they may find it and the noise will be over.”
“You, also, do not know what you say,” and Mattina dragged her arm away and ran into the house.
The door of the living-room was open, and from it came the sound of angry voices and loud cries.
Mattina walked right in.
“I am here,” she announced, “and neither have I seen your ….”
But she could not finish her sentence; a furiously angry woman rushed at her, caught her by the shoulder, and shook her viciously.
“You thief!” she screamed. “You littlethief! This is how you repay me for taking you in! And you have the face to speak also!”
If Mattina had been a poor little servant all her life, and if her parents had been servants before her, she would perhaps have insisted on her innocence more respectfully, but until lately she had always lived with her equals, and also she was the child of free islanders, who had never called any one their master.
With both hands she pushed her mistress away from her as hard as she could push.
“Leave me! Leave me I tell you! I a thief! I! It is you are a liar for saying so!”
But two heavy blows sent her staggering against the table.
Then it seemed as though all the people in the room were about to fall upon her, and she crouched there with uplifted arm to protect her head.
The master pushed aside his wife.
“Wait a moment!” he said. “Letmespeak to her!” then to Mattina:—
“Tell me now what you have done with the money?”
“I never saw it, I tell you.”
“That does not pass with me; you have hidden it somewhere, or given it to someone.”
“Since I tell you I never saw it!”
“There is no one else in the house to take it. If you did not see it, where is it?”
“Do I know?” said Mattina, sullenly. “Is she not always losing her things?” and she pointed to her mistress.
Now because the woman was really constantly mislaying her belongings, this made her still more furious. She darted at Mattina.
“Wait till I show her!” and she struck her so hard a blow on the mouth, that Mattina screamed and covered her face with both arms.
Her mistress raised her hand again but one of her sisters pulled her back.
“Find the money first,” she said. “What do you gain by beating her?”
“You are right. If she has it on her, I will find it.”
And the woman went down on her knees and felt over Mattina, pulling her frock roughly about. In a moment she found the pins that closed the opening of the pocket, and dragged them out, thrusting her hand inside.
“Here it is!” she screamed triumphantly. “See! I have it!” and she waved the folded note which she pulled out of the pocket. But as soon as she looked at it, her tone changed to one of bitter disappointment.
“She has changed it, the shameless one, and this is all that remains!”
Mattina tried to snatch it from her.
“That is mine! That is mine! That is not yours! It is five drachmæ. Give it to me! It is mine I tell you.”
Her mistress laughed aloud.
“She told Taki here that she had not a ‘lepton’ of her own.”
“That was before,” cried Mattina, wildly, beginning to sob. “That was before I had this. This is mine! It is mine! On my father’s soul, I tell you it is mine!”
“If it be yours,” asked one of the sisters, “where did you find it?”
“She gave it to me.”
“She! What she?”
“She, the Madmazella from the next house.”
“She tells lies!” broke in her mistress. “A governess, who works one day that she may eat the next! Has she money to give?”
“When did she give it to you?” asked the master.
“When she went away in the carriage to go to her country.”
Then they all laughed.
“Ah, of course, you thought of someone who has gone away and whom we cannot ask! You are very clever, my girl, but your cleverness will not pass with us!”
“Now, enough words,” said her mistress. “I shall lock her up in her room and send for the police inspector. Perhaps in prison they may get the truth out of her.”
Mattina turned as pale as wax.
She knew what prison was. Even in Poros she had seen men with their arms tied back with ropes, taken to Nauplia24to the big prison of the “Palamidi”;25and she had heard tales of those who had returned from there!
“To prison!” she gasped. “To prison! I?”
“Of course,” said her mistress, enjoying her terror. “Did you think that you could steal and then stay in honest houses? Now you will see what will happen to you, you little thief!”
Mattina stumbled back against the wall.The sweat sprang out on her face, she kept wetting her lips, and her hands groped before her as though she were in the dark.
Her mistress seized hold of her arm and pulled her towards the open door of the room. For the first moments she struggled wildly, and then feeling how useless it was, she let herself be dragged out of the door and up the few steps to her little dark room. Her mistress pushed open the door with her foot and thrust Mattina in so violently that she fell upon the mattress in the further corner. Then the key was pulled out of the keyhole, and the door locked and double-locked on the outside; then Mattina heard her mistress’s heavy tread descending to the room below.
It was quite dark already. Mattina was never allowed a candle in her room, nor even a floating wick in a tumbler of oil. “As though,” her mistress had said, “it were necessary to burn good oil for a serving maid to pull off her clothes and tumble on to her mattress.” As a rule she was so tired and sleepy, she did not mind; but now she was very frightened indeed, and fear is always worse in the dark.
She lay there, where she had been flung, huddled up against the wall, her eyes hidden in the bend of her arm.
Prison! They would send her to prison! She had heard of a man in Poros, Andoni, the joiner, who had broken open the money box of Sotiro, the coffee-house keeper, in the night, and he had been kept ten years in prison! She did not know how much money he had taken; she had never heard. How long would they keep her in prison if they thought she had stolen twenty-five drachmæ; it was a great deal of money! And what would they do to her in prison? Was it a dark place under the ground? Oh, why was her father, her own “babba,” not alive to beat off the men of the police who would soon be coming to fetch her?
For a long time she cried and sobbed on the mattress without moving. When she opened her eyes she could distinguish nothing in the room, the darkness was like a thick black veil covering everything. There were voices, but they seemed distant; the house seemed still, with the stillness that brings terror with it.
Suddenly the dark seemed full of big handswith hooked fingers stretching out to clutch at her.
She ran wildly to the door and shook it, screaming aloud.
“Oh, my mother! My mother! Manitsa!26Where are you?”