We began to
divide"--he suddenly whipped the left horse and shouted angrily:
"Well, well, play, your mother is a witch."
The stout autumn crows strode with a businesslike air through the
bare fields. The wind whistled coldly, and the birds caught its
buffets on their backs. It blew their feathers apart, and even
lifted them off their feet, and, yielding to its force, they lazily
flapped their wings and flew to a new spot.
"But he cheated me; I see I have nothing----"
The mother listened to the coachman's words as in a dream. A dumb
thought grew in her heart. Memory brought before her a long series
of events through which she had lived in the last years. On an
examination of each event, she found she had actively participated
in it. Formerly, life used to happen somewhere in the distance,
remote from where she was, uncertain for whom and for what. Now,
many things were accomplished before her eyes, with her help. The
result in her was a confused feeling, compounded of distrust of
herself, complacency, perplexity, and sadness.
The scenery about her seemed to be slowly moving. Gray clouds
floated in the sky, chasing each other heavily; wet trees flashed
along the sides of the road, swinging their bare tops; little hills
appeared and swam asunder.
Pages:
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450