"You ought to rest a little," the mother advised.
Sasha smiled and answered in a softer voice:
"Don't worry about me. I'm not tired." And silently pressing their
hands, she left once more, cold and stern.
CHAPTER XIV
The mother and Nikolay, walking up to the window, watched the girl
pass through the yard and disappear beyond the gate. Nikolay
whistled quietly, sat down at the table and began to write.
"She'll occupy herself with this affair, and it'll be easier for
her," the mother reflected.
"Yes, of course!" responded Nikolay, and turning around to the
mother with a kind smile on his face, asked: "And how about you,
Nilovna--did this cup of bitterness escape you? Did you never know
the pangs for a beloved person?"
"Well!" exclaimed the mother with a wave of her hand. "What sort
of a pang? The fear they had whether they won't marry me off to
this man or that man?"
"And you liked no one?"
She thought a little, and answered:
"I don't recall, my dear! How can it be that I didn't like anybody?
I suppose there was somebody I was fond of, but I don't remember."
She looked at him, and concluded simply, with sad composure: "My
husband beat me a lot; and everything that was before him was
effaced from my soul.
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