All these things were contrived to frighten us, to make us stupid."
The mother turned about on the bench uneasily; the dense darkness
looked straight at her from the window, and the scarcely audible
crawling of the roaches persistently disturbed the quiet. She began
to speak almost in a whisper and fearfully:
"In regard to God, I don't know; but I do believe in Christ, in
the Little Father. I believe in his words, 'Love thy neighbor as
thyself.' Yes, I believe in them." And suddenly she asked in
perplexity: "But if there is a God, why did He withdraw his good
power from us? Why did He allow the division of people into two
worlds? Why, if He is merciful, does He permit human torture--the
mockery of one man by another, all kinds of evil and beastliness?"
Tatyana was silent. In the darkness the mother saw the faint
outline of her straight figure--gray on the black background. She
stood motionless. The mother closed her eyes in anguish. Then
the groaning, cold voice sullenly broke in upon the stillness again:
"The death of my children I will never forgive, neither God nor man--
I will never forgive--NEVER!"
Nilovna uneasily rose from her bed; her heart understood the mightiness
of the pain that evoked such words.
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