Page:Tolstoy - Tales from Tolstoi.djvu/222

Tales from Tolstoi none to attend to her. The old woman raised her head and saw the strange man.

"What is it?" she said "What dost want? We have nothing here, good sir!"

Elisyei understood what she said (though she spoke in Ruthenian), and went up to her.

"I am God's slave," said he. "I come for something to drink."

"There's no one to send for it. There's no one to fetch it. Go and take it thyself!"

And Ehsyei fell to asking her questions. "Is there no one hale enough among you to look after that woman there?"

"There's nobody; the man is dying in the courtyard out there, and we are all alone here."

The little boy had suddenly grown dumb when he saw a stranger, but when the old woman began to speak he fell to twitching her sleeve again. "Bread, granny, give me bread," and again he burst out crying.

Just as Elisyei was about to ask the old woman all about it, a man staggered into the room, made his way towards the wall, and would have sat down on the bench, but fell down and rolled upon the floor. He did not even pick himself up, but tried to speak. He stopped short at the first word, tried again, panted for breath, and then uttered stray words broken by panting.

"Illness," he said, "has come upon us, and hunger.

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