Page:Leo Tolstoi - Life Is Worth Living and Other Stories - tr. Adolphus Norraikow (1892).djvu/109

102 to move; and, worst of all, we had nothing to eat in the house, whereby to regain our lost strength."

"I was then left alone to struggle," said the old woman, "and without food I was quite exhausted and soon became very feeble. My little girl also grew painfully weak and was very nervous and frightened. We tried to send her to the neighbors, but she refused to go. She hid herself in a corner, and we could not get her to move. The day before yesterday a neighbor visited us, but when she saw our starving condition she turned her back and abandoned us to our fate. Her husband had left her and she was without food for her own children. Thus you found us, hoping for death to come and relieve our sufferings."

With tender pity in his heart, Elissey listened to their sad tale. He had now decided to abandon his intention of rejoining his companion that day, and he passed the night with the unfortunate peasant family. Rising early