A Russian Proprietor

ere hung with various rags and clothes; and, in the living-room, were literally

e crack in the ceiling; and in spite of the fact that it was braced up in two pl

ooking into the face of Churis, who, it seems, had

hildren," said the woman in a tearful voice, at

ches, he turned to the master. "And I haven't the wit to know what's to be done with it,

e winter here? Okh, okh! Oh

afters, then perhaps we might manage to get through the winter. It is possible to live; but you'd have to put some props all over the hut, like that: but if it gets shak

ing come to him long before; since he had more than once, during his sojourn on the estate, told the

ight of the poverty in the midst of which he found himself, and Churis's calm and self-satisfied appearance

ut this before?" he asked in a tone of reproach,

g with his black, bare feet over the uneven surface of the mud floor; but this he said so fearlessly a

could we be so presuming?"

Churis, again

ll rotten," cried Nekhliudof after a brief silence. "

list

es that I have been building at the new

hey're built. Fine cottages! The boys were laughing and wondering if they wouldn't be turned into granaries; they would be so secure

er of fire," replied the bárin, a frown crossing his youth

, your excellency

sfied smile, which he could not control, at the thought of his benevolence. "You can pull down this old one," he went on to say; "it will make you a granary. We will also move the pens. The water there is splendid. I will give you enough land for a vegetable-garden, and I'll

cy wills," he replied,

hing had stung her to the quick, and began

the same time humbly glancing at his master, and tossing back

y n

nough, but over there we could never in the world get along. What kind of pe

hy not

otally ruined,

an't you l

nce we can remember, all manured; but what is there there? Yes, what is there there? A wilderness! No hedges, no corn-kilns, no sheds, no nothing at all! Oh, yes, your exce

for him; that they would plant hedges, and build sheds; that the water there was excellent, and so on: b

ked with a crafty smile, that it would be best of all to remove to that farm some of the

rked, and smiled once more. "This is

"This place here isn't inhabitable, and hasn't been, and yet you live here. But ther

ere would the cattle get watered? And all our peasant ways are here; here from time out of mind. And here's the threshing-floor, and the little garden, and the willows; and here my parents lived, and my grandfather; and my father gave his soul into God's keeping here, and I too would end my days here, your e

s wife was standing, sobs growing more and more violent; and when the husband said "kind sir

her! Where are you going to move us to? We are old folks; we have

old woman; but she, with a sort of passionate despair, beat her

don't wish to go, it is not necessary. I won't oblige you

r tears with the sleeves of her shirt, the young proprietor began to comprehend what was meant for the peasant and his wife by the dilapidated little hut, the crumbling well with the filthy p

fe to you, that I was ready to deprive myself of every thing to make you happy and contented; and I vowed before God, now, that I would keep my word," said the young proprietor, not knowing that such a manner

pleased with this feeling that he expe

ed attention to his master, as to a man to whom he must needs listen, even thoug

s' affairs; and I put it entirely in the hands of the Commune. This wood now is not mine, but yours, you peasants', and I cannot any longer dispose of it; but the Commune disposes of it, as you know. Come to the meeting to-night. I will tell the Commune

ation. "If you will give me some lumber, then we can make re

you c

dn't I come? Only this thing is