Page:Leo Tolstoi - Life Is Worth Living and Other Stories - tr. Adolphus Norraikow (1892).djvu/181

 174 "May Christ bless you, diedushka [little uncle]," the woman said. "It seems as if he himself must have sent me to your window, for if it had not been for your kindness my babe must have frozen to death. When I started from my home this morning it was quite warm, but since then the weather has changed, and now it is bitter cold. And it was he," she continued, "the dear Christ, that led you to look through the window and have pity on a poor unfortunate."

Martin smiled as he said: "Truly it was he who put the thought into my mind, and (as it has proved) he had good reasons for doing so."

Martin then related his dream to the soldier's wife, and how he had heard a voice which he believed to be the Lord's promise to come that day to see him.

"With the Lord all things are possible," said the woman.

She then arose, and wrapping the old overcoat about herself and the babe, she prepared to take her departure. She first, however, with tears