Part 24 (1/2)
Her colour was bright, her eyes black; her coral lips spoke of happiness, light-heartedness, and strength; and her white teeth, which showed plainly when she smiled, gleamed like mother-of-pearl beside her slightly brown cheeks. She was really good, energetic, charitable, and compa.s.sionate, though a little coquettish; a faithful wife and tender mother, though she was very fond of laughing and joking. Her husband, the son of Kolenick, the richest labouring-man in the village,--a short man, pale, slim, sickly, and languid,--respected her as he did his patron saint and feared her as he did the fire; yet he loved her dearly, and would have been ready to die for her always.
”You do not recognize me, Nascia Kolesnikowa,” said the old man, in a low voice, as he approached her. ”I am Iermola, whom you know very well; you remember the man who learned to make pottery under Procope, your father.”
”What? Is this you carrying a beggar's sack? What can have happened to you? You had a trade and something laid by. But then old age--”
”Oh, there is a long story to tell you. You remember, of course, that I brought up your master's son?”
”I know all about it; people did nothing but talk about it.”
”Well, they have taken him away from me.”
”Bless me! what would you have them do? He was their child, not yours.”
”But my good Nascia, wasn't he a little mine too? And now they will not even allow me to see him, as if I went there, G.o.d help me! to cast a spell over my poor dear boy. So I am tired of living. No one will receive me here; at Popielnia I am all alone,--no one is left to me; even my neighbour, the cossack's widow, has lately died. Now I have left, and I go wandering about the world.”
”Poor old man, are you then so grieved at having lost your child?”
”Oh, Nascia, he was my all, my joy, my life; and they had no pity on me, they took him away from me. Then he began to droop and dwindle away; G.o.d only knows what will become of him. They will not let me go near him. Tell me, have those people the fear of G.o.d in their hearts?
The lord drove me away himself, and forbade my putting foot on his estate.”
”Is it possible?”
”I swear it to you by the wounds of Christ; he drove me away without pity.”
”He has the blood of the old chief of squadron. He will be like his beloved father,” said Nascia, in a low voice, looking behind her to be sure that no one heard her. ”How could they be so unjust thus to drive away their friend, their benefactor!”
”Therefore as I have said to you, there was nothing left for me but to drag myself about from place to place. But when I began my wanderings, I was again seized with such an intense desire to see my child that I could not stand it, and I came back to get one more look at him.”
”And have you seen him?”
”No, I have just gotten here; I do not know even where to find shelter.”
”Come, come into our house!”
”G.o.d bless you, Nascia, and reward you by blessing your children! But I cannot accept your offer; some one would see me at your house and go and tell them. I do not want them to know at the _dwor_ that I am here; I will go away after I have seen the child, even if I only see him at a distance. But tell me, is Procope's cabin vacant?”
”Certainly it is; we have not repaired it, because after the servant went away, we could not find a tenant. When it falls down entirely, the garden will be much larger.”
”But until it tumbles down?”
”Oh, well, it will remain as it is.”
”If you will allow me to stay there only one week, I will pay you rent for it.”
Nascia burst into a laugh.
”Why should you pay,” said she, ”for the pleasure of lodging in a hole, in a ruin? Why, you will on the contrary do my Sydor a service, for he has an idea of repairing the cabin. If he could have found some one to stay there and keep it up, it would have lasted much longer. If you think of staying in it, I will send you the window which we had taken out of the frame and laid aside for fear some one should steal it. Will that suit you?”
”Do you really mean it? You are not joking?” said Iermola, in a tone of glad surprise.