Page:Leo Tolstoi - Life Is Worth Living and Other Stories - tr. Adolphus Norraikow (1892).djvu/94

Rh cheat him in the transaction. He made no suggestions in regard to their domestic affairs, believing that the duties relating thereto were self-evident, and that the members of his household could be trusted to know what was right and necessary for their welfare.

Thus the old comrades prepared for their departure. Their women-folk had baked for them plenty of cakes and provided them with new leg-wrappers, after which the men put on new boots and, taking with them a supply of bast-shoes, started on their journey. Their families accompanied them to the outskirts of the village, where they took leave of them and wished them God-speed.

Elissey went off with a light heart and in high spirits, and by the time the village was no longer in view he had quite forgotten everything concerning his family and his home. All his thoughts were now concentrated upon an effort to reconcile his companion to the long, wearisome journey that lay before them—that