"That grandfather of ours he is going quite out of his mind, and he is so greedy that it is sickening to look at him. Not long ago he took a hundred rubles out of the office-book of Xlist the furrier, a new friend of his. What a set-out there was! E-h-h-h!" The sun shone brightly, and clouds floated in the sky like white birds. We went by the bridge across the Volga. The ice groaned under us, water was visible under the planks of the bridge, and the golden cross gleamed over the red dome of the cathedral in the market-place. We met a woman with a broad face. She was carrying an armful of willow-branches. The spring was coming; soon it would be Easter. "I love you very much, Grandmother!" This did not seem to surprise her. She answered in a calm voice: "That is because we are of the same family. But--and I do not say it boastfully--there are others who love me, too, thanks to thee, O Blessed Lady!" She added, smiling: "She will soon be rejoicing; her Son will rise again! Ah, Variusha, my daughter!" Then she was silent. CHAPTER II Grandfather met me in the yard; he was on his knees, chopping a wedge with a hatchet. He raised the ax as if he were going to throw it at my head, and then took off his cap, saying mockingly: "How do you do, your Holiness? Your Highness? Have you finished your term of serviced Well, now you can live as you like, yes. U-ugh! _you_--" "We know all about it, we know all about it!" said grandmother, hastily waving him away, and when she went into her room to get the samovar ready she told me: "Grandfather is fairly ruined now. What money there was he lent at interest to his godson Nikolai, but he never got a receipt for it. I don't quite know yet how they stand, but he is ruined; the money is lost. And all this because we have not helped the poor or had compassion on the unfortunate. God has said to Himself, 'Why should I do good to the Kashirins?' and so He has taken everything from us." Looking round, she went on: "I have been trying to soften the heart of the Lord toward us a little, so that He may not press too hardly on the old man, and I have begun to give a little in charity, secretly and at night, from what I have earned. You can come with me to-day if you like. I have some money--" Grandfather came in blinking and asked: "Are you going to have a snack?" "It is not yours," said grandmother. "However, you can sit down with us if you like; there's enough for you." He sat down at the table, murmuring: "Pour out--" Everything in the room was in its old place. Only my mother's corner was sadly empty, and on the wall over grandfather's bed hung a sheet of paper on which was inscribed in large, printed letters: "Jesus save, Life of the world! May Thy holy name be with me all the days and hours of my life!" "Who wrote that?" Grandfather did not reply, and grandmother, waiting a little, said with a smile: "The price of that paper is--a hundred rubles!"