"What a good man he is!" she murmured."I wonder where he is now?""Why, at home of course.Tomorrow or the day after I must go and see him about some books and pamphlets.He promised to give me some, but evidently forgot to do so before I left.""And do you think, Aliosha, that when he gave you this portrait he renounced everything...absolutely everything?"I think so."
"Do you think you will find him at home?"Of course."
"Ah!" Mariana lowered her eyes and dropped her hands at her sides."But here comes Tatiana with our dinner," she exclaimed suddenly."Isn't she a dear!"Tatiana appeared with the knives and forks, serviettes, plates and dishes.While laying the table she related all the news about the factory."The master came from Moscow by rail and started running from floor to floor like a madman.Of course he doesn't understand anything and does it only for show-- to set an example so to speak.Vassily Fedotitch treats him like a child.
The master wanted to make some unpleasantness, but Vassily Fedotitch soon shut him up.'I'll throw it up this minute,' he said, so he soon began to sing small.They are having dinner now.
The master brought someone with him.A Moscow swell who does nothing but admire everything.He must be very rich, I think, by the way he holds his tongue and shakes his head.And so stout, very stout! A real swell! No wonder there's a saying that 'Moscow lies at the foot of Russia and everything rolls down to her.'""How you notice everything!" Mariana exclaimed.
"Yes, I do rather," Tatiana observed."Well, here is your dinner.
Come and have it and I'll sit and look at you for a little while."Mariana and Nejdanov sat down to table, whilst Tatiana sat down on the window-sill and rested her cheek in her hand.
"I watch you..." she observed."And what dear, young, tender creatures you are.You're so nice to look at that it quite makes my heart ache.Ah, my dear! You are taking a heavier burden on your shoulders than you can bear.It's people like you that the tsar's folk are ready to put into prison.""Nothing of the kind.Don't frighten us," Nejdanov remarked."You know the old saying, 'As you make your bed so you must lie on it.' ""Yes, I know.But the beds are so narrow nowadays that you can't get out of them!""Have you any children?" Mariana asked to change the subject.
"Yes, I have a boy.He goes to school now.I had a girl too, but she's gone, the little bird! An accident happened to her.She fell under a wheel.If only it had killed her at once! But no, she suffered a long while.Since then I've become more tender-hearted.Before I was as wild and hard as a tree!""Why, did you not love your Pavel?"
"But that's not the same.Only a girl's feelings.And you--do you love HIM?""Of course I do."
Very much?
"Ever so much."
"Really?..." Tatiana looked from one to the other, but said nothing more.
"I'll tell you what I would like.Could you get me some coarse, strong wool? I want to knit some stockings...plain ones."Tatiana promised to have everything done, and clearing the table, went out of the room with her firm, quiet step.
