"
"Say, my dear sir," the Little Russian said with a good-natured
sneer, "you have eaten well, but you have chewed your food up badly,
and a piece has remained sticking in your throat. You had better
gargle."
"Don't go fooling now!" said Pavel.
"I am as solemn as a funeral."
The mother laughed quietly and shook her head.
CHAPTER XV
Spring was rapidly drawing near; the snow melted and laid bare the
mud and the soot of the factory chimneys. Mud, mud! Wherever the
villagers looked--mud! Every day more mud! The entire village
seemed unwashed and dressed in rags and tatters. During the day the
water dripped monotonously from the roofs, and damp, weary exhalations
emanated from the gray walls of the houses. Toward night whitish
icicles glistened everywhere in dim outline. The sun appeared in
the heavens more frequently, and the brooks began to murmur hesitatingly
on their way to the marsh. At noon the throbbing song of spring
hopes hung tremblingly and caressingly over the village.
They were preparing to celebrate the first of May. Leaflets
appeared in the factory explaining the significance of this holiday,
and even the young men not affected by the propaganda said, as they
read them:
"Yes, we must arrange a holiday!"
Vyesovshchikov exclaimed with a sullen grin:
"It's time! Time we stopped playing hide and seek!"
Fedya Mazin was in high spirits.
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