The hut was lighted by a single little lamp, which burned dimly and smoked. When someone screened the lamp and a big shadow fell across the window, the bright moonlight could be seen. Old Osip, speaking slowly, told them how they used to live before the emancipation; how in those very parts, where life was now so poor and so dreary, they used to hunt with harriers, greyhounds,. re- trievers, and when they went out as beaters the peas- ants were given vodka ; how whole waggonloads of game used to be sent to Moscow for the young mas- ters; how the bad were beaten with rods or sent away to the Tver estate, while the good were re- warded. And Granny told them something, too. She remembered everything, positively everything. She described her mistress, a kind, God-fearing woman, whose husband was a profligate and a rake, and all of whose daughters made unlucky marriages: one married a drunkard, another married a work- man, the other eloped secretly (Granny herself, at that time a young girl, helped in the elopement), and they had all three as well as their mother died early from grief. And remembering all this, Granny posi- tively began to shed tears.
All at once someone knocked at the door, and they all started.
" Uncle Osip, give me a night's lodging."
The little bald old man, General Zhukov's cook, the one whose cap had been burnt, walked in. He sat down and listened, then he, too, began telling stories of all sorts. Nikolay, sitting on the stove with his legs hanging down, listened and asked ques- tions about the dishes that were prepared in the old days for the gentry. They talked of rissoles, cut- lets, various soups and sauces, and the cook, who remembered everything very well, mentioned dishes that are no longer served. There was one, for in- stance — a dish made of bulls' eyes, which was called " waking up in the morning."
" And used you to do cutlets a marichal?" asked Nikolay.
"No."
Nikolay shook his head reproachfully and said:
" Tut, tut! You were not much of a cook I "
The little girls sitting and lying on the stove stared down without blinking; it seemed as though there were a great many of them, like cherubim in the clouds. They liked the stories: they were breathless; they shuddered and turned pale with alternate rapture and terror, and they listened breathlessly, afraid to stir, to Granny, whose stories were the most interesting of all.
They lay down to sleep in silence; and the old people, troubled and excited by their reminiscences, thought how precious was youth, of which, what- ever it might have been like, riothing was left in the memory but what was livin^, joyful, touching, and how terribly cold was death, which was not far off, better not think of it I The \amp died down. And the dusk, and the two little windows sharply defined by the moonlight, and the stillness and the creak of the cradle, reminded them for some reason that life was over, that nothing one cculd do would bring it back. . . . You doze off, you forget your- self, and suddenly someone touches yt.\\ir shoulder or breathes on your cheek — and sleep is gone; your body feels cramped, and thoughts of cUath keep creeping into your mind. You turn on vhe other side: death is forgotten, but old dreary, s\ckening thoughts of poverty, of food, of how dear flcur is getting, stray through the mind, and a littta later again you remember that life is over and yo\'. tan« not bring it back. . . .
" Oh, Lord I " sighed the cook.
Someone gave a soft, soft tap at the windtiW. It must be Fyokla come back. Olga got up, and yawning and whispering a prayer, opened the door, then drew the bolt in the outer room, but no one came in; only from the street came a cold draught and a sudden brightness from the moonlight. The street, still and deserted, and the moon itself float- ing across the sky, could be seen at the open door.
" Who is there ? " called Olga.
11 I," she heard the answer —" it is 1."
Near the door, crouching against the wall, stood Fyokla, absolutely naked. She was shivering with cold, her teeth were chattering, and in the bright moonlight she looked very pale, strange, and beau- tiful. The shadows on her, and the bright moon- light on her skin, stood out vividly, and her dark eyebrows and firm, youthful bosom were defined with peculiar distinctness.
" The ruffians over there undressed me and turned me out like this," she said. " I've come home with- out my clothes . . . naked as my mother bore me. Bring me something to put on."
" But go inside I " Olga said softly, beginning to shiver, too.
" I don't want the old folks to see." Granny was, in fact, already stirring and muttering, and the old father asked: " Who is there? " Olga brought her own smock and skirt, dressed Fyokla, and then both went softly into the inner room, try- ing not to make a noise with the door.
" Is that you, you sleek one? " Granny grumbled angrily, guessing who it was. " Fie upon you, night- walker! . . . Bad luck to you ! "
" It's all right, it's all right," whispered Olga, wrapping Fyokla up; " it's all right, dearie."
All was stillness again. They always slept badly; everyone was kept awake by something worrying and persistent: the old man by the pain in his back, Granny by anxiety and anger, Marya by terror, the children by itch and hunger. Now, too, their sleep was troubled; they kept turning over from one side to the other, talking in their sleep, getting up for a drink.
Fyokla suddenly broke into a loud, coarse howl, but immediately checked herself, and only uttered sobs from time to time, growing softer and on a lower note, until she relapsed into silence. From time to time from the other side of the river there floated the sound of the beating of the hours; but the time seemed somehow strange — five was struck and then three.
" Oh Lord ! " sighed the cook.
Looking at the windows, it was difficult to tell whether it was still moonlight or whether the dawn had begun. Marya got up and went out, and she could be heard milking the cows and saying, "Stea-dy! " Granny went out, too. It was still dark in the hut, but all the objects in it could be discerned.
Nikolay, who had not slept all night, got down from the stove. ' He took his dress-coat out of a green box, put it on, and going to the window, stroked the sleeves and took hold of the coat-tails — and smiled. Then he carefully took off the coat, put it away in his box, and lay down again.
Marya came in again and began lighting the stove. She was evidently hardly awake, and seemed dropping asleep as she walked. Probably she had had some dream, or the stories of the night before came into her mind as, stretching luxuriously before the stove, she said:
" No, freedom is better."
VII
The master arrived — that was what they called the police inspector. When he would come and what he was coming for had been known for the last week. There were only forty households in Zhukovo, but more than two thousand roubles of arrears of rates and taxes had accumulated.