Chapter 17

When they entered the hut, the old man bowed again, wiped off the bench in the front corner with the flap of his coat, and, smiling, asked :

" What may we serve to you, your Grace ? "

The hut was white (with a chimney), spacious, and had both hanging and bench beds. The fresh aspen-wood beams, between which the moss-caulking had just begun to fade, had not yet turned black ; the new benches and beds had not yet become smooth, and the floor was not yet stamped down.

A young, haggard peasant woman, with an oval, pensive face, Ilya's wife, was sitting on the bench-bed, and rocking with her foot a cradle that hung down from the ceiling by a long pole. In the cradle a suckling babe lay stretched out, and slept, barely breathing, and closing its eyes. Another, a plump, red-cheeked woman, Karp's wife, stood, with her sunburnt arms bared above the elbows, near the oven, and cut onions into a wooden bowl. A third, a pockmarked, pregnant woman, stood at the oven, shielding herself with her sleeve. The hut was hot, not only from the sun, but from the oven also, and was fragrant with freshly baked bread. From the hanging beds the flaxen heads of two boys and a girl, who had climbed there in expectation of dinner, looked down with curiosity at the master.

Nekhlyudov was happy to see this well-being ; but, at the same time, he felt embarrassed before these women and children who gazed at him. He sat down on the bench, blushing.

" Give me a piece of warm bread, I like it," he said, and blushed even more.

Karp's wife cut off a big slice of bread, and handed it to the master on a plate. Nekhlyudov was silent, not knowing what to say ; the women were silent, too ; the old man smiled gently.

" Really, what am I ashamed of ? I am acting as though I were guilty of something," thought Nekhlyudov. " Why should I not make the proposition about the farm to him ? How foolish ! " But still he kept silent.

"Well, Father Dmitri Nikolaevich, what will your order be about the boys ? " said the old man.

" I should advise you not to send them away, but to find work for them here," suddenly spoke Nekhlyudov, taking courage. " Do you know what I have thought out for you ? Buy in partnership with me a young grove in the Crown forest, and fields — "

" How, your Grace ? Where shall I get the money for it ? " he interrupted the master.

" A small grove, for about two hundred rubles," remarked Nekhlyiidov.

The old man smiled angrily.

" It would not hurt to buy it if I had the money," he said.

" Do you mean to tell me you have not that amount ? " said the master, reproachfully.

" Oh, your Grace ! " answered the old man, in a sorrowful voice, looking at the door. " I have enough to do to feed the family, and it is not for me to buy groves."

" But you have money, and why should it lie idle ? " insisted Nekhlyudov.

The old man became greatly agitated ; his eyes flashed, he began to shrug his shoulders.

" It may be evil people have told you something about me," he spoke in a trembling voice, " but, as you believe in God," he said, becoming more and more animated, and turning his eyes to the image, " may my eyes burst, may I go through the floor, if I have anything outside of the fifteen rubles which Ilyushka has brought me, and I must pay the capitation tax, and, you know yourself, I have just built a new hut — "

" All right, all right ! " said the master, rising from the bench. " Good-bye, people ! "