Page:Leo Tolstoi - Life Is Worth Living and Other Stories - tr. Adolphus Norraikow (1892).djvu/42

 Rh unable to sleep. Her thoughts constantly wandered to their strange guest. The fact also forced itself upon her that they had eaten their last loaf of bread, and that nothing remained for the morrow. She reflected, too, upon the humble gifts which she had bestowed upon the man, and her heart was filled with sadness. Yet, when she recalled how pleasantly he smiled, her regrets were changed to gladness.

For a long time sleep refused to come to Matreona's eyes, and, noticing Simeon's efforts to cover himself with the kaftan, discovered that he also was unable to sleep. Finally she called:

"Simeon!"

"Eh?" was her husband's only reply.

"The last of the bread has been eaten," she said; "and I have not set any more to raise. I do not know how we are to manage for to-morrow—unless my godmother, Malanya, can spare us some."

"If we are alive," Simeon replied, "the Lord will see that we are fed."