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120 her little hands just like this, and then spoke in a voice that I can't repeat: 'Mother of God, do not desert them!' By this time the agony had reached her heart, and one might see by her eyes that the poor woman was suffering terribly: she fell back on her pillows, bit the sheet, and her tears began to flow in streams."

"Well, and then?"

Natálya could not speak any more: she turned her face away, and burst into tears.

Mamma had passed away amidst terrible sufferings.