window to look after him and a little girl who had run out with an
empty pail to the well gaped at him, and she too looked after him. The
first person he met was the uncle he was looking for. The old man had
been sitting all the morning on the ledge under his window taking
pinches of snuff and warming himself in the sun; he was not very well,
so he had not gone to church; he was just setting off to visit another
old man, a neighbour who was also ailing, when he suddenly saw
Akim.... He stopped, let him come up to him and glancing into his
face, said:
'Good-day, Akimushka!'
'Good-day,' answered Akim, and passing the old man went in at the
gate. In the yard were standing his horses, his cow, his cart; his
poultry, too, were there.... He went into the hut without a word. The
old man followed him. Akim sat down on the bench and leaned his fists
on it. The old man standing at the door looked at him compassionately.
'And where is my wife?' asked Akim.
'At the mistress's house,' the old man answered quickly. 'She is
there. They put your cattle here and what boxes there were, and she
has gone there. Shall I go for her?'
Akim was silent for a time.
'Yes, do,' he said at last.
'Oh, uncle, uncle,' he brought out with a sigh while the old man was
taking his hat from a nail, 'do you remember what you said to me the
day before my wedding?'
'It's all God's will, Akimushka.'
'Do you remember you said to me that I was above you peasants, and now
you see what times have come.... I'm stripped bare myself.'
'There's no guarding oneself from evil folk,' answered the old man,
'if only someone such as a master, for instance, or someone in
authority, could give him a good lesson, the shameless fellow--but as
it is, he has nothing to be afraid of. He is a wolf and he behaves
like one.' And the old man put on his cap and went off.
Avdotya had just come back from church when she was told that her
husband's uncle was asking for her. Till then she had rarely seen him;
he did not come to see them at the inn and had the reputation of being
queer altogether: he was passionately fond of snuff and was usually
silent.
She went out to him.
'What do you want, Petrovitch? Has anything happened?'
'Nothing has happened, Avdotya Arefyevna; your husband is asking for
you.'
'Has he come back?'
'Yes.'
'Where is he, then?'
'He is in the village, sitting in his hut.'
Avdotya was frightened.
'Well, Petrovitch,' she inquired, looking straight into his face, 'is
he angry?'
'He does not seem so.'
Avdotya looked down.
'Well, let us go,' she said. She put on a shawl and they set off
together. They walked in silence to the village. When they began to
get close to the hut, Avdotya was so overcome with terror that her
knees began to tremble.
'Good Petrovitch,' she said, 'go in first.... Tell him that I have
come.'
The old man went into the hut and found Akim lost in thought, sitting
just as he had left him.
'Well?' said Akim raising his head, 'hasn't she come?'
'Yes,' answered the old man, 'she is at the gate....'
'Well, send her in here.'
The old man went out, beckoned to Avdotya, said to her, 'go in,' and
sat down again on the ledge. Avdotya in trepidation opened the door,
crossed the threshold and stood still.
Akim looked at her.
