"'Ha, hucksteress! thou mournest for the traders more than for
Nóvgorod itself.'

"'By my huckstering she grew not poor, but rich.'

"'Let me but jingle a piece of money, and straight will fly the
merchants from all corners of the world, greedy for my grosches.'

"'Recall the chief citizens whom thou hast exiled to thy towns.'

"'Cheats, knaves, rebels! they are not worth this!'

"'When was power in the wrong? Where is the water of life that can
revive those thou hast slain? Even if thou couldst do all this,
liberty, liberty would be no more for Nóvgorod, Iván Vassílievitch;
and Nóvgorod will never rise again! It may live on awhile like
lighted flax, that neither flameth nor goeth out, even as I live in a
dungeon!'

"'It is thine inflexible obstinacy that hath ruined both of ye. I
should like to have seen how thou wouldst have acted in my place.'

"'Thou hast done thy work, Great Prince of Moscow, I--mine. Triumph
not over me, in my dungeon, at my last hour.'

"Márpha Borétzkaia coughed, and her face grew livid; she applied the
end of her veil to her lips, but it was instantly stained with blood,
and Iván remarked this, though she endeavoured to conceal it.

"'I am sorry for thee, Márpha,' said the Great Prince in a