‘“Well, Annita,” I exclaimed, “aren’t you glad I’ve come home again?” ‘“Indeed I am,” she said; “I am very glad;” and she smiled as she looked at me. To look at those eyes was like looking into the clearest crystal well. There was no secret hidden at the bottom. No passion had as yet dimmed the lustre of that depth. Her look was childlike, pure, innocent, and decorous. And when she slowly opened her large eyes and gazed at me, it seemed as if I was folded in a wonderfully warm and enchanting light. ‘I was much taller than she was, and a big, strong man. I had often, in earlier days, taken Annita in my arms and run off with her over the fields. She would then, in her wild joy, pull my hair, and call out, “Gallop, my horse! Gallop, quicker, quicker!” ‘I thought of doing something of this kind again, and half made a sign of taking her up in my arms, but Annita laughed and jumped aside. ‘“No, thank you,” she said; “I am too big now. You can’t lift me.” ‘“I can try,” I suggested. ‘“No, I won’t let you.” ‘“Am I never more to be allowed to lift you?” ‘“Perhaps, some other time.” ‘The next day I had to go and visit one of our neighbours, a distant relative, who owned the adjoining estate. The only daughter of the house, a big, strong girl, was about my own age, and we had played together as children. It had also, long before, been settled between our parents that we were to marry one another, so that the two properties might be united. She and I had quite accepted this arrangement, and it had never occurred to us to think of raising objections to our parents’ plans. ‘You well know, Father Gurij, that a Russian master is a patriarch, and is despotic in his house and family. No person has any right to question his orders, not even the noblest in the town, not even the Czar. The house-father is above all written law. His house is not merely a castle, but a church as well, and whatever he does is sacred and holy. “Two wills in one house,” says the Russian proverb, “would be impossible; and would never do.” My father Ivan was a very strong man, and often he was cruelly severe with his serfs, whom he looked upon and treated as mere slaves. His will was the one thing which must be followed and obeyed. Not unfrequently they have felt the cat-o’-nine-tails, and he was dreaded both by his own servants and by the serfs in the village. He commanded, and nobody dared to offer the slightest opposition, whatever the matter might be. If it was his will that a young man and a girl should marry, then they must marry, and if any persons wanted to marry, my father had to be consulted, and his decision accepted.