And for eight
days she went without eating, and came within a hair's breadth of
dying. It's not bad! She must have a mighty strong little stomach."
"Is it possible you took no food for eight days in succession?"
asked the mother in amazement.
"I had to get him to beg my pardon," answered the girl with a
stoical shrug of her shoulders. Her composure and her stern
persistence seemed almost like a reproach to the mother.
"And suppose you had died?" she asked again.
"Well, what can one do?" the girl said quietly. "He did beg my
pardon after all. One ought never to forgive an insult, never!"
"Ye-es!" responded the mother slowly. "Here are we women who are
insulted all our lives long."
"I have unloaded myself!" announced Yegor from the other room.
"Is the samovar ready? Let me take it in!"
He lifted the samovar and talked as he carried it.
"My own father used to drink not less than twenty glasses of tea a
day, wherefor his days upon earth were long, peaceful, and strong;
for he lived to be seventy-three years old, never having suffered
from any ailment whatsoever. In weight he reached the respectable
figure of three hundred and twenty pounds, and by profession he was
a sexton in the village of Voskesensk.
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