Page:Complete Works of Count Tolstoy - 18.djvu/167

. It is in your own house, and you can do it right. We will fix it so that not a word of it will be heard. Do as I tell you! But we are women and can't get along without a man. Take the spade! Go down and fix it! I will hold the lantern.

. What shall I fix?

(in a whisper). Dig a hole! Then we will take it down and bury it at once. There she is, calling again. Go, I say. I must go.

. Well, is the child dead?

. Of course, it is. Only do it more lively! The people are not yet asleep, and they, the accursed ones, may hear and see it. The officer passed here in the evening. So go! (Giving him the spade.) Go down in the cellar! Dig a hole in the corner! The earth is soft there,—and then you will smooth it out again. Mother earth won't tell it will be as smooth as though a cow had licked it down. Go, go, my son!

. You will get me entangled. Go to! Really, I will go away. Do yourselves as you please!

(from the door). Well, have you dug it?

. What did you come here for? What have you done with it?

. I have covered it with a bag, so it won't be heard. Well, hasn't he dug it yet?

. He does not want to.

(rushing out in fury). He does not want to! And does he want to feed lice in the prison? I will go at once and tell the officer. I will make an end of it at once. I will tell him everything!

(frightened). What will you tell?

. What? Everything! Who took the money? You! (Nikíta is silent.) And who gave him the poison?