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As he over the Dobrzynskis, so his house ruled over the village,

standing between the tavern and the church. To all appearances it

was rarely visited and mere trash lived in it, for at the

entrance stood posts without gates, and the garden was neither

fenced nor planted; in the vegetable beds birches had grown up.

Yet this old farmhouse seemed the capitol of the village, for it

was handsomer and more spacious than the other cottages, and on

the right side, where the living-room was placed, it was of

brick. Near by were a storehouse, granary, barn, cow shed, and

stable, all close together, as is usually the case among the

gentry. The whole was uncommonly old and decayed; the house roofs

shone as if made of green tin, because of the moss and grass,

which grew as luxuriantly as on a prairie. The thatches of the

barns were like hanging gardens of various plants, the nettle and

the crimson crocus, the yellow mullen and the bright-coloured

tassels of mercury.