"Now is the time, friend, to wear warm clothes; but yesterday I p.a.w.ned my last shawl for a twenty-kopek piece."(10)
(10) _Dvagrivennui_, silver, worth sixteen cents.
The woman came to the bed, and took the child; and Avdyeitch rose, went to the part.i.tion, rummaged round, and succeeded in finding an old coat.
"Na!" says he; "It is a poor thing, yet you may turn it to some use."
The woman looked at the coat and looked at the old man; she took the coat, and burst into tears; and Avdyeitch turned away his head; crawling under the bed, he pushed out a little trunk, rummaged in it, and sat down again opposite the woman.
And the woman said:--
"May Christ bless you, little grandfather!(11) He must have sent me to your window. My little baby would have frozen to death. When I started out it was warm, but now it has grown cold. And He, the Batyushka, led you to look through the window and take pity on me, an unfortunate."
(11) _Diedushka._
Avdyeitch smiled, and said:--
"Indeed, He did that! I have been looking through the window, my good woman, for some wise reason."
And Martuin told the soldier"s wife his dream, and how he heard the voice,--how the Lord promised to come and see him that day.
"All things are possible," said the woman. She rose, put on the coat, wrapped up her little child in it; and, as she started to take leave, she thanked Avdyeitch again.
"Take this, for Christ"s sake," said Avdyeitch, giving her a twenty-kopek piece; "redeem your shawl."
She made the sign of the cross, and Avdyeitch made the sign of the cross and went with her to the door.
The woman went away. Avdyeitch ate some shchi, washed the dishes, and sat down again to work. While he was working he still remembered the window; when the window grew darker he immediately looked out to see who was pa.s.sing by. Acquaintances pa.s.sed by and strangers pa.s.sed by, and there was nothing out of the ordinary.
But here Avdyeitch saw that an old apple woman had stopped in front of his window. She carried a basket with apples. Only a few were left, as she had evidently sold them nearly all out; and over her shoulder she had a bag full of chips. She must have gathered them up in some new building, and was on her way home. One could see that the bag was heavy on her shoulder; she tried to shift it to the other shoulder. So she lowered the bag on the sidewalk, stood the basket with the apples on a little post, and began to shake down the splinters in the bag. And while she was shaking her bag, a little boy in a torn cap came along, picked up an apple from the basket, and was about to make his escape; but the old woman noticed it, turned around, and caught the youngster by his sleeve. The little boy began to struggle, tried to tear himself away; but the old woman grasped him with both hands, knocked off his cap, and caught him by the hair.
The little boy was screaming, the old woman was scolding. Avdyeitch lost no time in putting away his awl; he threw it upon the floor, sprang to the door,--he even stumbled on the stairs, and dropped his spectacles,--and rushed out into the street.
The old woman was pulling the youngster by his hair, and was scolding and threatening to take him to the policeman; the youngster was defending himself, and denying the charge.
"I did not take it," he said; "What are you licking me for? Let me go!"
Avdyeitch tried to separate them. He took the boy by his arm, and said:--
"Let him go, babushka; forgive him, for Christ"s sake."
"I will forgive him so that he won"t forget it till the new broom grows.
I am going to take the little villain to the police."
Avdyeitch began to entreat the old woman:--
"Let him go, babushka," he said, "he will never do it again. Let him go, for Christ"s sake."
The old woman let him loose; the boy started to run, but Avdyeitch kept him back.
"Ask the babushka"s forgiveness," he said, "and don"t you ever do it again; I saw you take the apple."
The boy burst into tears, and began to ask forgiveness.
"There now! that"s right; and here"s an apple for you."
And Avdyeitch took an apple from the basket, and gave it to the boy.
"I will pay you for it, babushka," he said to the old woman.
"You ruin them that way, the good-for-nothings," said the old woman. "He ought to be treated so that he would remember it for a whole week."
"Eh, babushka, babushka," said Avdyeitch, "that is right according to our judgment, but not according to G.o.d"s. If he is to be whipped for an apple, then what ought to be done to us for our sins?"
The old woman was silent.
And Avdyeitch told her the parable of the master who forgave a debtor all that he owed him, and how the debtor went and began to choke one who owed him.
The old woman listened, and the boy stood listening.
"G.o.d has commanded us to forgive," said Avdyeitch, "else we, too, may not be forgiven. All should be forgiven, and the thoughtless especially."
The old woman shook her head, and sighed.
"That"s so," said she; "but the trouble is that they are very much spoiled."
"Then we who are older must teach them," said Avdyeitch.
"That"s just what I say," remarked the old woman. "I myself have had seven of them,--only one daughter is left."
And the old woman began to relate where and how she lived with her daughter, and how many grandchildren she had. "Here," she says, "my strength is only so-so, and yet I have to work. I pity the youngsters--my grandchildren--but what nice children they are! No one gives me such a welcome as they do. Aksintka won"t go to anyone but me.
"Babushka, dear babushka, lovliest.""
And the old woman grew quite sentimental.
"Of course, it is a childish trick. G.o.d be with him," said she, pointing to the boy.
The woman was just about to lift the bag up on her shoulder, when the boy ran up, and said:--
"Let me carry it, babushka; it is on my way."
The old woman nodded her head, and put the bag on the boy"s back.
And side by side they pa.s.sed along the street.
And the old woman even forgot to ask Avdyeitch to pay for the apple.
Avdyeitch stood motionless, and kept gazing after them; and he heard them talking all the time as they walked away. After Avdyeitch saw them disappear, he returned to his room; he found his eye-gla.s.ses on the stairs,--they were not broken; he picked up his awl, and sat down to work again.