kill me, Akim Semyonitch, kill me here on the spot.'
'Why should I kill you, Arefyevna?' said Akim dejectedly, 'you've been
your own ruin. What's the use?'
'But do you know what, Akim Semyonitch, the money ... your money ...
your money's gone.... Wretched sinner as I am, I took it from under
the floor, I gave it all to him, to that villain Naum.... Why did you
tell me where you hid your money, wretched sinner as I am? ... It's
with your money he has bought the house, the villain.'
Sobs choked her voice.
Akim clutched his head with both hands.
'What!' he cried at last, 'all the money, too ... the money and the
house, and you did it.... Ah! You took it from under the floor, you
took it.... I'll kill you, you snake in the grass!' And he leapt out
of the cart.
'Semyonitch, Semyonitch, don't beat her, don't fight,' faltered
Yefrem, on whom this unexpected adventure began to have a sobering
effect.
'No, Akim Semyonitch, kill me, wretched sinner as I am; beat me, don't
heed him,' cried Avdotya, writhing convulsively at Akim's feet.
He stood a moment, looked at her, moved a few steps away and sat down
on the grass beside the road.
A brief silence followed. Avdotya turned her head in his direction.
'Semyonitch! hey, Semyonitch,' began Yefrem, sitting up in the cart,
'give over ... you know ... you won't make things any better. Tfoo,
what a business,' he went on as though to himself. 'What a damnable
woman.... Go to him,' he added, bending down over the side of the cart
to Avdotya, 'you see, he's half crazy.'
Avdotya got up, went nearer to Akim and again fell at his feet.
'Akim Semyonitch!' she began, in a faint voice.
Akim got up and went back to the cart. She caught at the skirt of his
coat.
'Get away!' he shouted savagely, and pushed her off.
'Where are you going?' Yefrem asked, seeing that he was getting in
beside him again.
'You were going to take me to my home,' said Akim, 'but take me to
yours ... you see, I have no home now. They have bought mine.'
'Very well, come to me. And what about her?'
Akim made no answer.
'And me? Me?' Avdotya repeated with tears, 'are you leaving me all
alone? Where am I to go?'
'You can go to him,' answered Akim, without turning round, 'the man
you have given my money to.... Drive on, Yefrem!'
Yefrem lashed the horse, the cart rolled off, Avdotya set up a
wail....
Yefrem lived three-quarters of a mile from Akim's inn in a little
house close to the priest's, near the solitary church with five
cupolas which had been recently built by the heirs of a rich merchant
in accordance with the latter's will. Yefrem said nothing to Akim all
the way; he merely shook his head from time to time and uttered such
ejaculations as 'Dear, dear!' and 'Upon my soul!' Akim sat without
moving, turned a little away from Yefrem. At last they arrived. Yefrem
was the first to get out of the cart. A little girl of six in a smock
tied low round the waist ran out to meet him and shouted,
'Daddy! daddy!'
'And where is your mother?' asked Yefrem.
'She is asleep in the shed.'
'Well, let her sleep. Akim Semyonitch, won't you get out, sir, and
come indoors?'
(It must be noted that Yefrem addressed him familiarly only when he
was drunk. More important persons than Yefrem spoke to Akim with
formal politeness.)
Akim went into the sacristan's hut.
'Here, sit on the bench,' said Yefrem. 'Run away, you little rascals,'
he cried to three other children who suddenly came out of different
