[9] He was very nice, and like everybody else. MARY IVÁNOVNA. But, all the same, he was then quite changed. PETER SEMYÓNOVICH. In what way? MARY IVÁNOVNA. He was completely indifferent to his family, and purely and simply had _l'idée fixe_. He read the Gospels for days on end, and did not sleep. He used to get up at night to read, made notes and extracts, and then began going to see bishops and hermits--consulting them about religion. ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. And did he fast, or prepare for communion? MARY IVÁNOVNA. From the time of our marriage--that's twenty years ago--till then he had never fasted nor taken the sacrament, but at that time he did once take the sacrament in a monastery, and then immediately afterwards decided that one should neither take communion nor go to church. ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. That's what I say--thoroughly inconsistent! MARY IVÁNOVNA. Yes, a month before, he would not miss a single service, and kept every fast-day; and then he suddenly decided that it was all unnecessary. What can one do with such a man? ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. I have spoken and will speak to him again. PETER SEMYÓNOVICH. Yes! But the matter is of no great importance. ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. No? Not to you! Because you men have no religion. PETER SEMYÓNOVICH. Do let me speak. I say that that is not the point. The point is this: if he denies the Church, what does he want the Gospels for? MARY IVÁNOVNA. Well, so that we should live according to the Gospels and the Sermon on the Mount, and give everything away. PETER SEMYÓNOVICH. But how is one to live if one gives everything away? ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. And where has he found in the Sermon on the Mount that we must shake hands with footmen? It says "Blessed are the meek," but it says nothing about shaking hands! MARY IVÁNOVNA. Yes, of course, he gets carried away, as he always used to. At one time it was music, then shooting, then the school. But that doesn't make it any the easier for me! PETER SEMYÓNOVICH. Why has he gone to town to-day? MARY IVÁNOVNA. He did not tell me, but I know it is about some trees of ours that have been felled. The peasants have been cutting trees in our wood. PETER SEMYÓNOVICH. In the pine-tree plantation? MARY IVÁNOVNA. Yes, they will probably be sent to prison and ordered to pay for the trees. Their case was to be heard to-day, he told me of it, so I feel certain that is what he has gone about. ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. He will pardon them, and to-morrow they will come to take the trees in the park. MARY IVÁNOVNA. Yes, that is what it leads to. As it is, they break our apple-trees and tread down the green cornfields, and he forgives them everything. PETER SEMYÓNOVICH. Extraordinary! ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. That is just why I say that it must not be allowed to go on. Why, if it goes on like that, _tout y passera_.[10] I think it is your duty as a mother to _prendre tes mesures_.[11] [10] Everything will be lost. [11] To take measures. MARY IVÁNOVNA. What can I do?