Page:The Mantle and Other Stories.djvu/149

 tree whose top reaches to heaven, and that God descends by it on the earth, the night before Easter."

"No, Hanna. God has a long ladder which reaches from heaven to earth. Before Easter Sunday holy angels set it up, and as soon as God puts His foot on the first rung, all evil spirits take to flight and fall in swarms into hell. That is why on Easter Day there are none of them on earth."

"How gently the water ripples! Like a child in the cradle," continued Hanna, pointing to the pool begirt by dark maples and weeping-willows, whose melancholy branches drooped in the water. On a hill near the wood slumbered an old house with closed shutters. The roof was covered with moss and weeds; leafy apple-trees had grown high up before the windows; the wood cast deep shadows on it; a grove of nut-trees spread from the foot of the hill as far as the pool.

"I remember as if in a dream," said Hanna, keeping her eyes fixed on the house, "a long, long time ago, when I was little and lived with mother, someone told a terrible story about this house. You must know it—tell me."

"God forbid, my dear child! Old women and stupid people talk a lot of nonsense. It would only frighten you and spoil your sleep."

"Tell me, my darling, my black-eyed Cossack," she said, pressing her cheek to his.