' I understood them very well
at once. I know such a life. Thoughts there are, but they're not
connected, and they stray like stupid sheep without a shepherd. They
stray and stray, with no one to bring them together. There's no
understanding in people of what must be done. That's what a
senseless life is. I'd like to run away from it without even looking
around--such a severe pang one suffers when one understands something!"
The mother perceived the pang in the dry gleam of the woman's green eyes,
in her wizened face, in her voice. She wanted to pet and soothe her.
"You understand, my dear, what to do----"
Tatyana interrupted her softly:
"A person must be able-- The bed's ready for you. Lie down and sleep."
She went over to the oven and remained standing there erect, in
silence, sternly centered in herself. The mother lay down without
undressing. She began to feel the weariness in her bones and
groaned softly. Tatyana walked up to the table, extinguished the
lamp, and when darkness descended on the hut she resumed speech in
her low, even voice, which seemed to erase something from the flat
face of the oppressive darkness.
"You do not pray? I, too, think there is no God, there are no miracles.
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