soudébnik--the royal murderer and plotter shall not live.'

"'Be it so. Let not him live, who reached at another's life.' (Here
he turned to Kourítzin, but remembering that he was always disinclined
to severe punishments, he continued, waving his hand,) 'I forgot that
a craven[2] croweth not like a cock.' (At these words the deacon's
eyes sparkled with satisfaction.) 'Mamón, be this thy care. Tell my
judge of Moscow--the court judge--to have the Lithuanian and the
interpreter burned alive on the Moskvá--burn them, dost thou hear?
that others may not think of such deeds.'

[2] A _jeu de mots_ impossible to be rendered in English; _Kourítza_,
in Russian, is a 'hen.'"--T.B.S.

"The dvorétzkoi bowed, and said, stroking his ragged beard--'In a few
days will arrive the strangers to build the palace, and the Almayne
leech: the Holy Virgin only knoweth whether there be not evil men
among them also. Dost thou vouchsafe me to speak what hath come into
my mind?'

"'Speak.'

"'Were it not good to show them an example at once, by punishing the
criminals before them?'

"The Great Prince, after a moment's thought, replied--'Aristotle
answereth for the leech Antony; he is a disciple of his brother's.
The artists of the palace--foreigners--are good men, quiet men ...
but ... who can tell!... Mamón, put off the execution till after the
coming of the Almayne leech; but see that the fetters sleep not on