Page:Leo Tolstoi - Life Is Worth Living and Other Stories - tr. Adolphus Norraikow (1892).djvu/103

 96 side, and as Elissey approached the couch the air of the room became still more offensive. Finally she raised her head and gazed helplessly at the intruder.

"What do you want?" she asked, at last. "We have nothing left, my dear man."

Elissey understood what she meant, and approaching her kindly said:

"I am but a servant of God, and I came here only for a drink."

"Godfather," replied the woman, "there is nothing in the house, and you may therefore go your way."

"Is there no well person here," asked Elissey, "to care for a sick woman?"

"We are all sick," replied the woman. "A man is dying in the yard, and we in the house."

On seeing a stranger, the boy stopped crying: but as soon as the old woman began to speak he again caught her by the sleeve, pleading:

"Bread! My grandma, give me bread!"

And the boy cried bitterly.