God does favors to us all, and we've got to do likewise to one another.
You will mow this desyatin in no time, and I'll be much obliged to you. You see, brother, I am a plain man.
You'll do me a ruble's worth of service, and I——"
Porfiry Vladimirych rises, faces the church, and makes the sign of the cross to show that the transaction is at an end.
Foka also rises and makes the sign of the cross.
Foka has disappeared. Porfiry Vladimirych produces a sheet of paper, arms himself with the counting-board, and the beads begin jumping fast under his skilful fingers. Little by little an orgy of numbers commences.
The whole world becomes enwrapped in mist. With feverish haste Yudushka passes from the paper to the counting-board and from the counting-board to the paper.
The rows of figures keep growing larger and larger.
_____ BOOK VII THE SETTLEMENT _____ CHAPTER I
It is the middle of December. The country stretches still and benumbed, covered with a mantle of snow as far as the eye can reach. The horses, though pulling empty carts, wade with difficulty through the snow-drifts that the wind has driven during the night.
There is not the trace of a path to the Golovliovo estate.
Porfiry Vladimirych had grown so unaccustomed to visits that in the beginning of autumn he barred the front entrance to the house and the main gateways leading to it, leaving only the servants' entrance and the side gates for the domestics to communicate with the outer world.
One morning as the clock was striking eleven, Yudushka in his dressing-gown was standing at the window staring aimlessly before him.
Since early morning he had been walking to and fro in the room, deep in thought about a certain momentous matter, and ceaselessly counting imaginary profits. Finally, he became mixed in the ciphering and grew tired.
Both the magnificent orchard in front of the manor and the village behind it were lost to view in the snow.
After yesterday's blizzard the air was frosty, and the snow shimmered and sparkled in the sun, so that Porfiry Vladimirych had to blink.
The court was silent and deserted. There was not the least movement, either in the servants' quarters or near the cattle yard. Even the village itself was so silent that it seemed as if death had suddenly stolen upon the people.
The only thing that attracted Yudushka's attention was a curl of thin smoke floating upward from the priest's house.
"Eleven o'clock, and the parson's wife has not yet finished cooking," he thinks. "Those black coats are always gorging."
With this as a point of departure, his mind wandered on. Was it a weekday or a holiday, a fast day or not, and what can the parson's wife be cooking? But suddenly his attention was diverted.
On the hill at the very beginning of the road from the village of Pogorelka a black dot appeared, approached gradually and grew larger and larger.
Porfiry Vladimirych looked intently. "Who could be coming, a peasant or somebody else? Who could it be but a peasant? Yes, a peasant!
What was he coming for? If for wood, why, then, the Naglovka forest was on the other side of the village. The knave must be intending to steal some wood.
If he was making for the mill, why, then, he ought to have turned to the right. Perhaps he was coming to fetch the priest. Someone dying, or, perhaps, already dead?
Or maybe a child had been born?
Who could it be?
In autumn Nenila walked about pregnant, but it was too early for her. If it should be a boy, he would get into the census. What was the population of Naglovka at the last census?
But if a girl, she would not get into the census, and——Still, it is impossible to get along without the female sex. Fie!"
Yudushka spat and looked at the ikon in the corner, as if seeking its protection from the Evil One.
It is quite possible that he would have continued wandering in thought had the black speck been lost to view, but it kept on growing and at last turned toward the marsh road leading to the church.
Then Yudushka saw quite clearly that it was a small wagon pulled by two horses, one behind the other.
Next it went up the hill, and drove past the church. "Perhaps it is the bishop," passed through his mind. "That's why they have not yet finished cooking at the parson's house." Then the vehicle turned to the right and made straight for the manor-house.
Porfiry Vladimirych instinctively drew his dressing-gown together and stepped away from the window, as if afraid of being seen by the traveller.
He had guessed correctly. The wagon drove up to the house and stopped at the side gate.
A young woman jumped out of it quickly.
She was dressed out of season in a large cotton-lined greatcoat trimmed with lamb's fur, more for show than for warmth. She was apparently frozen.
No one appearing to receive her, the stranger hopped over to the maids' entrance. In a few seconds the outer door in the women's quarters banged shut, then another door, and another, until all the rooms adjacent to the maids' entrance were filled with a noise of hurried footsteps and banging doors.
Porfiry Vladimirych stood at his study door listening intently.
It was so long since he had seen any strangers, and altogether he had become so unaccustomed to the company of human beings, that he was somewhat bewildered.
Nearly a quarter of an hour passed, the running and the banging of the doors continued, and yet he was not told who had come.
It was clear that the guest was a relative, who did not doubt her right to the host's hospitality.
But what relatives had he?
He tried to recall them, but his memory was dull.
He had had two sons, Volodka and Petka; he had had a mother, Arina Petrovna—long, long ago!
Last autumn Nadka Galkina, daughter of his late aunt Varvara Mikhailovna, had taken up her residence at Goryushkino. Could it be she?
Why, no. She had already tried to make her way into the Golovliovo temple, but to no avail.
"She will not dare to, she will not dare to!" reiterated Yudushka, burning with indignation at the very thought of her intrusion.
"But who else can it be?"
While he was busy guessing, Yevpraksia approached the door cautiously and announced:
"The young lady of Pogorelka, Anna Semyonovna, has arrived."