Page:Complete Works of Count Tolstoy - 18.djvu/124

 People ask us to. If he is alive to-morrow, we will send for the priest.

. It must be hard for you, Anísya! The proverb says not in vain: Not he who is ailing is sick, but he who watches over the ailment.

. If there were only an end to it!

. Of course. It is no small matter to see him dying for a year. He has tied your hands.

. Bitter is a widow's lot. It is all right if she is young, but who will pity her in her old age? Old age is no joy. Look at me! I have walked but a short distance, and I am so tired that my feet are numb. Where is my son?

. He is ploughing. Come in. We shall have the samovár ready, and you will ease your heart with some tea.

(sits down). I am dreadfully tired, my dear ones. You must be sure and give him the extreme unction. People say it is good for the soul.

. Yes, we shall send for him to-morrow.

. It will be better so. We have had a wedding, my dear.

. What, a wedding in spring?

. There is evidently good sense in the proverb: Night is too short for a poor man to marry. Semén Matvyéevich has married Marína.

. So she has found her happiness!

. He is a widower, so she has married him for the children.

. There are four of them. What decent girl would marry him? So he has taken her. She is happy. We drank a glass,—you see it was not strong liquor,—because they poured it out for me.

. I declare! Has he any means?

. So far they are getting on well.

. That's so, who would want to marry a man