Short Fiction - Vladimir Korolenko (easy books to read in english txt) 📗

great strength, and, moreover, he obeys me; I can twist him round my little finger. Besides, you must remember that I am now about to go away for six months, and we must break him in before I go.’

“ ‘Yes, but I cannot help distrusting him,’ said Zaldiarof; ‘I have no faith in him whatever, although he looks so simple.’

“ ‘Well, well, I know him; he is not a clever lad, to be sure, but that’s the kind that best suits us. And we must certainly get rid of Kuzmá; I am afraid he will get us into some scrape.’

“Then I heard them call, ‘Feódor!’⁠—‘Feódor!’ and I really had not the courage to answer.

“ ‘Get up, my good Feódor,’ said the old man, in his sweetest tones. ‘Were you asleep?’ he asked.

“ ‘Yes,’ I replied.⁠ ⁠…

“ ‘Get up, my boy, and harness the horses; you will have to drive the travellers. Do you remember your oath?’

“ ‘I do’; and my teeth chattered as I spoke, and cold chills were running all over me.

“ ‘I think the time for keeping your promise to obey all my commands is at hand. And, meanwhile, be lively about harnessing, for the travellers are in haste.’

“I pulled out the telyéga from the shed, put the collar on the middle horse, and began to harness. Meanwhile, my heart was throbbing violently, and I felt all the time as if this must be a dream.

“Bezrúky also saddled his own horse, which was docile as a dog; he could saddle him with one hand. Then he mounted, and, having whispered something into the horse’s ear, he rode off. After harnessing the middle horse, I looked out of the gate, and watched him as he started on a trot towards the woods. Although the moon had not yet risen, it was tolerably light; and after I saw him disappear in the woods, I felt easier. I drove up to the door, and was asked to come in. The traveller was a young woman with three small children, the oldest of whom looked about four, and the youngest girl might have been two years old. ‘I wonder where you are going, you poor creature!’ I thought to myself; ‘and without a husband, too! Such a kind and friendly lady!’ She made me sit down, and gave me some tea, and asked me what sort of a neighborhood it was, and whether there had been any reports of robberies. ‘I have not heard of any,’ I replied; and couldn’t help thinking: ‘Ah, my blessed heart, you are afraid!’ and how could she help it, to be sure! She had a good deal of luggage, and all the signs of wealth, and, above all, there were her children. A mother’s heart is an anxious one, and I don’t suppose she was travelling for pleasure.

“Well, we started. It was about two hours before daylight. We had reached the highway, and driven on for a verst or so, when suddenly one of the side horses shied. ‘What now!’ I thought. I stopped the team, and saw Kuzmá creeping out of the bushes. There he stood, by the roadside, shaking his locks and grinning at me. ‘Deuce take you!’ said I to myself. I was somewhat startled, and the lady sat there more dead than alive.⁠ ⁠… The children were asleep, but she was wide-awake, watching. I knew that she was crying.⁠ ⁠… ‘I am afraid,’ she said. ‘I am afraid of you all.⁠ ⁠…’⁠—‘God bless you, my dear lady,’ I cried, ‘I am not a villain. Why didn’t you stay at the hut, where you were?⁠ ⁠…’⁠—‘I was more frightened there than I am here. My last driver told me that we should come to a village at night; and, instead of that, he brought me to this place in the woods. And the old man had such a wicked look!⁠ ⁠…’ she continued.⁠ ⁠… What was I to do with her! I could see that she felt very wretched. ‘What had we better do now?’ I asked. ‘Will you turn back, or shall we go on?’ And I walked round the carriage, trying to think of some way to comfort her, for I felt very sorry for her. We were not far from the Hollow, which could only be reached from the byroad; and we had to pass the ‘Stone.’ Seeing the quandary I was in, she cheered up, and said: ‘Well, get up on the box, and let us go on. I am not going back, for I am afraid of those men.⁠ ⁠… I would rather go on with you; you look like a kind man.’ At that time, sir, I was like a child; I had not the stamp of Cain on my face. Now men are afraid of me; they call me ‘Slayer.’ Then I too cheered up, and mounted the box. ‘Let us talk,’ said the lady. And she began first to ask questions about me, and then she told me about herself: that she was going to join her husband, who was an exile belonging to the wealthy class. ‘How long have you been with these people?’ she asked, ‘and are you living with them as a workman, or in what capacity?’⁠—‘I came to them very recently, as a workman,’ I replied.⁠—‘What kind of folk are they?’⁠—‘They seem to be fair sort of men; but who can tell?’ I said; ‘they are strict in their mode of life; they never use either wine or tobacco.’⁠—‘That is not an essential,’ she said.⁠—‘And how ought one to live?’ I asked; for I saw that she was a sensible woman, and thought that she might tell me something worth knowing.⁠—‘Can you read?’ she asked.⁠—‘Yes,’ I answered, ‘a little.’⁠—‘What is the chief commandment in the Bible?’⁠—‘Love,’ I replied.⁠—‘You are right. And it says, moreover, there can be no greater love than when a man lays down his life for his brother. That is the substance of the law. Of course, one must use one’s reason, too,’ she added, ‘and discriminate. But such forms as