'Well, Arefyevna,' he began, 'what are we going to do now?'
'I am guilty,' she faltered.
'Ech Arefyevna, we are all sinners. What's the good of talking about
it!'
'It's he, the villain, has ruined us both,' said Avdotya in a cringing
voice, and tears flowed down her face. 'You must not leave it like
that, Akim Semyonitch, you must get the money back. Don't think of me.
I am ready to take my oath that I only lent him the money. Lizaveta
Prohorovna could sell our inn if she liked, but why should he rob
us.... Get your money back.'
'There's no claiming the money back from him,' Akim replied grimly,
'we have settled our accounts.'
Avdotya was amazed. 'How is that?'
'Why, like this. Do you know,' Akim went on and his eyes gleamed, 'do
you know where I spent the night? You don't know? In Naum's cellar,
with my arms and legs tied like a sheep--that's where I spent the
night. I tried to set fire to the place, but he caught me--Naum did;
he is too sharp! And to-day he meant to take me to the town but he let
me off; so I can't claim the money from him.... 'When did I borrow
money from you?' he would say. Am I to say to him, 'My wife took it
from under the floor and brought it to you'? 'Your wife is telling
lies,' he will say. Hasn't there been scandal enough for you,
Arefyevna? You'd better say nothing, I tell you, say nothing.'
'I am guilty, Semyonitch, I am guilty,' Avdotya, terrified, whispered
again.
'That's not what matters,' said Akim, after a pause. 'What are we
going to do? We have no home or no money.'
'We shall manage somehow, Akim Semyonitch. We'll ask Lizaveta
Prohorovna, she will help us, Kiriliovna has promised me.'
'No, Arefyenva, you and your Kirillovna had better ask her together;
you are berries off the same bush. I tell you what: you stay here and
good luck to you; I shall not stay here. It's a good thing we have no
children, and I shall be all right, I dare say, alone. There's always
enough for one.'
'What will you do, Semyonitch? Take up driving again?'
Akim laughed bitterly.
'I should be a fine driver, no mistake! You have pitched on the right
man for it! No, Arefyenva, that's a job not like getting married, for
instance; an old man is no good for the job. I don't want to stay
here, just because I don't want them to point the finger at me--do you
understand? I am going to pray for my sins, Arefyevna, that's what I
am going to do.'
'What sins have you, Semyonitch?' Avdotya pronounced timidly.
'Of them I know best myself, wife.'
'But are you leaving me all alone, Semyonitch? How can I live without
a husband?'
'Leaving you alone? Oh, Arefyevna, how you do talk, really! Much you
need a husband like me, and old, too, and ruined as well! Why, you got
on without me in the past, you can get on in the future. What property
is left us, you can take; I don't want it.'
'As you like, Semyonitch,' Avdotya replied mournfully. 'You know
best.'
'That's better. Only don't you suppose that I am angry with you,
Arefyevna. No, what's the good of being angry when ... I ought to have
been wiser before. I've been to blame. I am punished.' (Akim sighed.)
'As you make your bed so you must lie on it. I am old, it's time to
think of my soul. The Lord himself has brought me to understanding.
Like an old fool I wanted to live for my own pleasure with a young
wife.... No, the old man had better pray and beat his head against the
