Page:The Kiss and Other Stories by Anton Tchekhoff, 1908.pdf/202

 out of our province, I went to see her off at the railway station, and put into her hand a rouble, for Christ's sake. She didn't reach Siberia. Before she had crossed the government frontier she was down with gaol-fever, and in gaol she died.”

“To a dog a dog's death!” said Diudya.

“Kuzka was sent back. I thought the matter out, and took him to live with me. What else could I do ? He's a sprig of a gaol-bird, that's true, but all the same he's a Christian, a living soul. I was sorry for him. I will make him a clerk, and if I have no children of mine, a trader. Nowadays, wherever I go I take him with me ; he is learning business.”

While Matvei Savvitch told his story, Kuzka sat on a stone at the gate, and, resting his head on his hands, looked at the sky; when it grew dusk he looked like a stump of a tree.

“Kuzka, go to bed!” cried Matvei Savvitch.

“It's time,” said Diudya, rising. He yawned audibly, and added, “They think themselves clever and disobey their elders — that's the cause of their troubles.”

The moon already shone in the sky overhead; it seemed to speed swiftly to one side and the clouds beneath it to the other; the clouds drifted away and the moon was soon clear of them. Matvei Savvitch prayed towards the church, bade the others good night, and lay on the ground near his cart. Kuzka also