"But our poor little Velia!" exclaimed Michael, suddenly realising what his departure would be to her. How would the tender-hearted little soul bear the separation? He recollected her cry, "Never go away again, brother! Never leave little Velia again!" "Michael," said Father Cyril, "trust me. Velia and little Clava shall be as my own children. They must observe the rites of our Church, but I will teach them the truths that lie underneath the symbols. Do not be afraid. They shall not cross themselves except when they do so in remembrance of our crucified Lord. They shall not pray to the icons, but to the saints whom the icons recall to our minds. I will take care no superstition is mixed up with their religion." "But we pray straight to God," objected Michael, "neither to the icons nor the saints. Our Lord said, 'When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven.' He did not speak of saints." "They shall say the Lord's Prayer night and morning," answered Father Cyril gently; "my boy, you have no voice in this matter. Only trust in me. As far as mortal man can guide them into truth, I will do so. Trust Velia to God also. He loves her more than you can." Tatiania, like the other women, had sold her few possessions, and made all the necessary preparations for joining her husband at Kovylsk with her children. But when she heard that little Clava would not be given back to her, she declared she would not stir without her. There were other almost broken-hearted mothers, who were leaving their little ones behind in far less happy circumstances than little Clava. But their remonstrances and entreaties were in vain. Tatiania sat down in her empty house, and refused to listen to anyone. "She is going mad," said Sergius to Michael. Michael, like the rest, had sold the cattle and sheep, and the store of grain left from last year's harvest, for a small sum indeed. But he was rich in comparison with the others, though he had given half the money to Paraska, who must now leave Knishi. She would be homeless and friendless, hardly able to earn a living, as no Stundist could be taken as a servant into an Orthodox family. "Your mother is going mad!" she said to Sergius. "Tell her to think of me! I had the chance of going with Demyan, and I gave it up to stay with my children. They were torn away from me, my two little boys, and I never set eyes on them again, and never knew what became of them. That's enough to make a mother mad! But she knows good Father Cyril has adopted little Clava. I'll go and reason with her," she added, running off to Tatiania's house. The poor mother was sitting on the side of the bed which was no longer her own, rocking herself to and fro.