How strange, Pelagueya
Nilovna! The workingmen live such a hard, outraged life, and yet
there is more heart, more goodness in them than in--those!" And
she waved her hand, pointing somewhere far, very far from herself.
"See what sort of a person you are," the older woman answered. "You
have left your own family and everything--" She was unable to
finish her thought, and heaving a sigh looked silently into Natasha's
face with a feeling of gratitude to the girl for she knew not what.
She sat on the floor before Natasha, who smiled and fell to musing.
"I have abandoned my family?" she repeated, bending her head down.
"That's nothing. My father is a stupid, coarse man--my brother
also--and a drunkard, besides. My oldest sister--unhappy, wretched
thing--married a man much older than herself, very rich, a bore and
greedy. But my mother I am sorry for! She's a simple woman like
you, a beaten-down, frightened creature, so tiny, like a little
mouse--she runs so quickly and is afraid of everybody. And sometimes
I want to see her so--my mother!"
"My poor thing!" said the mother sadly, shaking her head.
The girl quickly threw up her head and cried out:
"Oh, no! At times I feel such joy, such happiness!"
Her face paled and her blue eyes gleamed.
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