From a few complaints that found their way into the letters of Arina Petrovna, Porfiry Vladimirych's amazingly keen perceptions sensed the confusion that possessed her mind.
Not that Arina Petrovna actually sermonized and moralized in her letters, but above all, she trusted in God's help, "which in these faithless times does not abandon even slaves, far less those who because of their means were the surest prop and ornament of the church."
Yudushka instinctively understood that if mother dear began to put her hope in God, then there was some flaw in the fabric of her existence.
And he took advantage of the flaw with his peculiar, subtle skill.
Almost at the very end of the preliminaries to the emancipation, he visited Golovliovo quite unexpectedly and found Arina Petrovna sunk into despondency, almost to a point of prostration.
"Well, what news? What do they say in St. Petersburg?" was her first question, after mutual greetings had been exchanged.
Porfiry cast down his eyes and sat speechless.
"No, you must consider my circumstances," continued Arina Petrovna, gathering from her son's silence that good news was not to be expected. "Right now in the maids' room I have about thirty of these creatures. What shall I do with them?
If they remain in my care, what am I going to feed them on?
At present I have a little cabbage, a little potatoes, some bread, enough of everything; and we manage somehow to make both ends meet.
If the potatoes give out, I order cabbage to be cooked; if there is no cabbage, cucumbers have to do.
But now, if I have to run to market for everything and pay for everything, and buy and serve, how am I ever to provide for such a crowd?"
Porfiry gazed into the eyes of his "mother dear" and smiled bitterly as a sign of sympathy.
"And then, if the government is going to turn them loose, give them absolute leeway—well, then, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know what it will come to."
Porfiry smiled as if there were something very funny in "what it was coming to."
"Don't you laugh.
It is a serious matter, so serious that if only the Lord grants them a little more reason, only then—Here's my case, for instance. I am by no means an old rag, am I? I must have my bread and butter, too, mustn't I?
How am I to go about getting it?
Think of the bringing-up we received.
The only thing we know is how to dance and sing and receive guests. Then how am I going to get along without those wretches, I'd like to know.
I can't serve meals or cook. I can't do a thing."
"God is merciful, mother dear."
"He used to be, but not now.
When we were good, the Almighty was merciful to us; when we became wicked, well, we mustn't complain.
I'm beginning to think that the best thing for me is to throw everything to the dogs.
Really, I'll build myself a little hut right next to father's grave, and that's where I'll spend the rest of my days."
Porfiry Vladimirych pricked up his ears. His mouth began to water.
"And who will manage the estates?" he questioned, carefully throwing his bait, as it were.
"Why, you boys will have to manage them yourselves.
Thank God, I have provided plenty.
I ought not carry the whole burden alone."
Arina Petrovna suddenly stopped and raised her head.
Her eyes fell on Yudushka's simpering, drivelling, oily face, all suffused with a carnivorous inner glow.
"You seem to be getting ready to bury me," remarked Arina Petrovna drily. "Isn't it a bit too early, darling? Look out, don't make a mistake."
Thus the matter ended in nothing definite.
But there are discussions which, once begun, never really come to an end.
A few hours later Arina Petrovna renewed the conversation.
"I'll leave for the Trinity Monastery," she dreamed aloud. "I'll divide up the estate, buy a little cottage on the grounds and settle there."
But Porfiry Vladimirych, taught by past experience, remained silent this time.
"Last year, while your deceased father was still alive," continued Arina Petrovna, "I was sitting alone in my bedroom and suddenly I thought I heard someone whispering in my ear: 'Go to the Trinity Monastery. Go to the Trinity.' Three times, mind you.
I turned about—there was nobody in the room.
Well, then, I thought that must have been a sign for me.
'Well,' I said, 'if God is pleased with my faith, I am ready.'
No sooner had I said that than suddenly the room was filled with such a wonderful fragrance.
Of course I immediately ordered my things packed and by evening I was on my way."
Tears rose in Arina Petrovna's eyes.
Yudushka took advantage of this to kiss his mother's hand, and even made free to put his arm around her waist.
"Now you are a good girl," he said. "Ah, how good it is, darling, when one lives in peace with God.
You come to God with a prayer, and the Lord meets you with help.
That's how it is, mother dear."