Page:Tolstoy - Tales from Tolstoi.djvu/277

Rh hurried by. I was in despair. Suddenly I heard the man coming back. I looked and could not recognise the man I had seen before. Then there had been death in his face, but now he had suddenly become a living soul, and in his face I recognised God. He came to me, clothed me, took me with him, and led me to his house. I entered his house. His wife came out to meet us and began to speak. The woman was even more dreadful than her husband. The breath of the charnel-house came forth from her mouth, and I could not breathe for that mortal stench. She wished to drive me forth into the cold, and I knew that she would die if she drove me forth. And all at once her husband reminded her of God, and a great change suddenly came over the woman. And when she gave me some supper she looked at me, and I looked at her, and Death was no longer upon her—she was a living soul, and I recognised God in her.

"And I remembered the first word of God: 'Thou shalt know what is in mankind.' And I knew that in the hearts of mankind was love. And I rejoiced that God had begun to reveal to me what He had promised, and I smiled for the first time; but I was unable as yet to understand everything. I did not understand what is not given to men, nor whereby they live.

"I began to dwell with you, and a year went by. And the man came and ordered boots—boots that would last a year and neither rot nor shrink. And I looked at him, and immediately I saw behind him his companion the Angel of Death. None but I saw 227