Moscow: A Story of the French Invasion of 1812

t was half-past four before the troika drove up to the door, and quite dark. Olga sat huddled up on the box-

m which served as his agent's office, was sleepy; he settled himself comfortably in

red, "don't be startled a

have cried out, too, but Ivan placed a great

knouted as we sit," she whispered presently, when he had

e him drunk in order to take his place. And I have come because-do not be a fool and cry out-because t

rder him would do us no good. The Tsar's officers would come and take

all night by the roads, so as to leave no track, and we will come to

trembling so that she

ons; he will have us registered

ed from our own Barin; he will a

vil and beat us, and that we

" said Olga. "I should fe

; do not be a timid fool, Olga; we cannot live w

he shaft horse, a movement which caused her to grab the narrow board on which she sat and Ivan to collide violently against her, so that bo

in the cringing phraseology of Gavril, for

t slept off, and in a minute or two h

hat the horse shied

"unless it was a shad

n count five, taking both sides of the road; watch between the trees a hundred paces

sing herself; "yes-I see them-Lord have mercy upon

"these wolves may yet prov

it would be dangerous to stop in order to murder the Barin, as he had threatened to do, and that therefore the wol

ey come in closer and closer to the road. There are at least

us!" ejac

e good horses-I would race the brutes from now until daylight!" said I

each side of the road, but twenty paces from the sledge, while others followed behind. The three horses, harnessed abreast, snorted with terror; they laid back their

ld they grow!" whispered Olga.

said Ivan hoarsely. A

, Olga, with both hands; there is a bi

ood at the very edge of the road. The vehicle lurched heavily, glided perilously for a mom

rward both Ivan and Olga jolted back into their places, Olga shrieking with terror, but gripping the board upon which she sat so tightly as to be perfectly secure. Ivan sat still, looking neither to right nor left. He seemed to employ all his energies in ge

d. "He has fallen out, Ivan!-st

oolishness, Olga; you see that I

ond scream from behind; then a cry that

threw them in the road. "D

A few wolves were still following the

o," said Ivan, "and

in, together with the heels of the Count's boots, and a few shreds of his clothes. Olga's boots an

two others clung to the sledge a little longer, it appears, b

and oppressor of the poor. "It is the finger of God!" they said. Why two innocent peasants should have been sacrificed at the

run half a hundred miles-chased by wolves throughout the night, onl

ames they chose to give him. Two new serfs were a godsend not to be despised. It

so forth doubled at once in value; while as for her curses, why, from this time onward until she died, if she but launched a malediction,