Page:Complete Works of Count Tolstoy - 01.djvu/35

Rh which had long been familiar and dear to me; beyond the road lay an avenue of lopped linden-trees, and beyond that a wicker-fence could be seen in places; on the other side of the avenue appeared a meadow, on one side of which was a threshing-barn, and opposite it a forest; the hut of the watchman was visible far in the distance.

Through the window on the right was seen a part of the terrace where the grown people used to sit before dinner. At times, while Karl Ivánovich was correcting the dictation sheet, I looked in that direction, and I saw my mother's black head and somebody's back, and I dimly heard some conversation and laughter. I felt angry because I could not be there, and I thought: "When I shall be grown, shall I stop studying and eternally reading the Dialogues? And shall I not be sitting with those I love?" Anger passed into sadness, and I fell to musing, God knows why or over what, so that I did not hear Karl Ivánovich's angry words over my mistakes.

Karl Ivánovich took off his dressing-gown, put on his blue uniform with elevations and gatherings at the shoulders, fixed his cravat before the mirror, and took us down-stairs, to bid mother good morning.