Tears flowed from her eyes again and the others cried, too. It seemed
peculiar to her; there was nothing to regret in leaving the place,
nothing sentimental to remember it by, and yet she was crying. And
those people, too. She had not said anything out of the ordinary to
them--just the usual questions and answers--and yet their hearts were
heavy, they were sorry to see her go. She was seated in the cart,
wrapped up and well covered. Everybody heaved a sigh. "Good luck!" came
running after her when the cart started. Passing the churchyard she
stopped again and went to the grave alone without the ecclesiastics,
following the path that had been cleared. It was quite dark, and
lights began to appear in the houses of the church officials. She
stood there with one hand holding on to the cross rising from the
grave. She did not cry, but only swayed slightly, thinking of nothing
in particular, unable to formulate any definite thought. But she was
unhappy, in every way unhappy. Not because of grandmother, but on her
own account. So she stood for a quarter of an hour, and suddenly before
her eyes rose the image of Lubinka, who perhaps at that very moment was
singing merrily in a rollicking company, somewhere in Kremenchug:
/$
"_Ah, ah, que j'aime, que j'aime!
Que j'aime, les mili-mili-mili-taires!"_
$/
She almost broke down. She ran to her cart, seated herself, and ordered
the coachman to drive to Golovliovo as fast as possible.
CHAPTER III
When Anninka returned to her uncle's, she was dull and silent, though
she did feel a bit hungry (in the hurry, uncle had not given her some
chicken to take along) and was very glad the table was already set for
tea. Of course, Porfiry Vladimirych was not slow to open a conversation.
"Well, were you there?"
"Yes, I was."
"Did you pray at the grave? Did you have the requiem sung?"
"Yes."
"So the priest was at home?"
"Of course he was, or who would have performed the requiem?"
"Oh, yes, certainly. And the two sextons, were they there? Did they
sing: 'Eternal memory?'"
"Yes, they did."
"Yes, eternal memory! May she rest in peace. She was a good, kind
woman."
Yudushka rose from his seat, faced the ikon and offered up a prayer.
"Well, and how did you find things in Pogorelka, everything in good
shape?"
"I don't know, really. I think everything is in its proper place."
"Indeed, 'I think.' You always 'think,' but when you take a good look
you find this is wrong and that is wrong. That's how we judge of other
people's business. We 'think' and we 'guess!' But anyway, you've got
a nice little estate. My late mother fixed it all up very nicely. She
even spent a good deal of her own money on it. Well, it's only right to
help orphans along."
Listening to these chants of praise, Anninka could not refrain from
teasing her kindhearted uncle.
"Uncle, why did you take two cows away from Pogorelka?" she asked.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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