Page:Leo Tolstoi - Life Is Worth Living and Other Stories - tr. Adolphus Norraikow (1892).djvu/177

 170 which brought them into the room, and Martin, leading the way, conducted her to the bed, when, smiling pleasantly, he said: "Be seated, my good woman, on the side nearest the stove, where you can warm yourself and feed your baby."

The woman smiled sadly as she said: "I have no milk. I have not eaten any food since yesterday." She, however, placed the baby to her breast.

Martin, on hearing this, sadly shook his head, and going to the table got some bread. He next opened the door of the oven and took from it some cabbage-soup, a portion of which he poured into a dish and placed before the starving woman. Then he brought out a pot of gruel, but it was not quite ready; so he gave her bread and soup to satisfy her hunger, adding a drink of quass (fermented rye) in a wooden bowl. Taking a towel from the nail, he placed it also on the table beside the other things.

"My good woman," said Martin, "be seated by the table, and I will care for the babe while