Page:Tolstoy - Tales from Tolstoi.djvu/257

Rh and you've taken it from me and put it on your own back. Give it hither, you tow-stuffed cur! May the apoplexy seize you!"

Simon drew off the jacket and turned one of the sleeves the wrong side out. His old woman tugged at it, and almost tore it asunder at the seams. Matrena snatched up the jacket, threw it over her head, and made for the door. She would have gone out, but stopped short, and her heart was sore within her. She was bubbling over with evil unspoken, and she wanted to know besides who this strange man was.

Matrena stood still, and said, "If he were a good man he would not be naked like that. Why, he hasn't even got a shirt to his back. And if you had been about any honest business, you would have said where you picked up such a fine fellow!"

"I'll tell you then. I was going along. I passed by the chapel, and there sat this man, all naked and frozen. 'Tis not summer-time now, that a man should go about naked. Would he not have perished if God had not brought me to him? What was to be done now? Was it such a small matter to leave him? I took him, clothed him, and brought him hither. Let your heart be at ease then. 'Tis a sin, Matrena. We shall die one day."

Matrena would have liked to have scolded, but she looked at the stranger and was silent. The stranger was sitting down, but he didn't move. He was sitting 207