Page:Tolstoy - Tales from Tolstoi.djvu/259

Rh "Has any man robbed you?"

"God has punished me."

"And you were lying naked like that?"

"I was lying naked like that, and freezing. Simon saw and had compassion upon me, he took off his kaftan, clothed me with it, and bade me come hither. And here you have had pity upon me, and given me to eat and drink. The Lord requite you!"

Matrena rose up, took from the window Simon's old shirt, the selfsame shirt she had mended, and gave it to the stranger. She also hunted up some hose, and these she gave him likewise.

"There you are, take them! I see you have no shirt. Put them on, and lie down where you like; on the bench or on the stove."

The stranger took the kaftan, put on the shirt and hose, and lay down on the bench. Matrena put out the light, took the kaftan and went to her husband.

Matrena covered herself with the ends of the kaftan, lay down, but could not sleep; she could not get the stranger out of her thoughts at all. When she reflected that he had eaten up their last bit of bread, and there was no bread for the morrow, and that she had given away the shirt and the hose, she was very vexed; then she recollected how he had smiled, and her heart went forth to him.

For a long time Matrena could not sleep, but lay listening. Simon also could not sleep, and drew his kaftan over him.

"Simon!"

"Eh?"

"We have eaten our last bit of bread. I have made 209