Marry him! All girls must get husbands; all
women must bear children, and all children become a burden to their
parents!"
After these words she saw before her an unavoidable path running for
some inexplicable reason through a dark, dreary waste. Thus it was
at the present moment. In anticipation of a new approaching misfortune,
she uttered speechless words, addressing some imaginary person.
This lightened her mute pain, which reverberated in her heart like
a tight chord.
The next day, early in the morning, very soon after Pavel and Andrey
had left, Korsunova knocked at the door alarmingly, and called out hastily:
"Isay is killed! Come, quick!"
The mother trembled; the name of the assassin flashed through her mind.
"Who did it?" she asked curtly, throwing a shawl over her shoulders.
"The man's not sitting out there mourning over Isay. He knocked
him down and fled!"
On the street Marya said:
"Now they'll begin to rummage about again and look for the murderer.
It's a good thing your folks were at home last night. I can bear
witness to that. I walked past here after midnight and glanced into
the window, and saw all of you sitting around the table.
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