Page:Complete Works of Count Tolstoy - 01.djvu/78

50 get her old infatuation which, she swore, would never again return. And, indeed, she kept her word.

Since then Natáshka became Natálya Sávishna, and donned a cap; all the abundance of love which she treasured she transferred to her young lady.

When a governess took her place with my mother, she received the keys of the larder, and all the linen and the provisions were placed in her hands. She executed her new duties with the same zeal and love. She lived only for the good of her masters, and seeing in everything loss, ruin, and misappropriation, tried in all ways to counteract them.

When mamma married, she wished to show her appreciation of Natálya Sávishna's twenty years' labour and faithfulness; so she sent for her, and expressing in the most flattering words all her gratefulness and love for her, handed her a sheet of paper with a revenue stamp upon it, on which was written Natalya Savishna's emancipation, adding that, no matter whether she continued to serve in our house or not, she would receive a yearly pension of three hundred roubles. Natalya listened to all that in silence, then, taking the document in her hands, angrily looked upon it, mumbled something between her teeth, and ran out of the room, slamming the door behind her. Mamma did not understand the cause of her strange act, so, waiting a few minutes, she went into Natálya Sávishna's room. She was sitting with tearful eyes upon her coffer, fingering her handkerchief, and was looking fixedly at the bits of the torn emancipation document that were lying near her feet.

"What is the matter with you, my dear Natálya?" asked mamma, as she took her hand.

"Nothing, motherkin," answered she. "Evidently I have in some way displeased you, that you are chasing me from the estate. Well, I shall go."

She tore her hand away and, scarcely restraining her