"Martuin! Ah, Martuin! look to-morrow on the street. I am coming."
Martuin awoke, rose from the chair, began to rub his eyes. He himself
could not tell whether he heard those words in his dream, or in reality.
He turned down his lamp, and went to bed.
At daybreak next morning, Avdyeitch rose, made his prayer to God,
lighted the stove, put on the shchi(3) and the kasha,(4) put the water
in the samovar, put on his apron, and sat down by the window to work.
(3) Cabbage-soup.
(4) Gruel.
And while he was working, he kept thinking about all that had happened
the day before. It seemed to him at one moment that it was a dream, and
now he had really heard a voice.
"Well," he said to himself, "such things have been."
Martuin was sitting by the window, and looking out more than he was
working. When anyone passed by in boots which he did not know, he would
bend down, look out of the window, in order to see, not only the feet,
but also the face.
The dvornik(5) passed by in new felt boots,(6) the water-carrier passed
by; then there came up to the window an old soldier of Nicholas's time,
in an old pair of laced felt boots, with a shovel in his hands.
Avdyeitch recognized him by his felt boots. The old man's name was
Stepanuitch; and a neighboring merchant, out of charity, gave him a home
with him. He was required to assist the dvornik. Stepanuitch began to
shovel away the snow from in front of Avdyeitch's window. Avdyeitch
glanced at him, and took up his work again.
(5) House-porter.
(6) _Valenki._
"Pshaw! I must be getting crazy in my old age," said Avdyeitch, and
laughed at himself. "Stepanuitch is clearing away the snow, and I
imagine that Christ is coming to see me. I was entirely out of my mind,
old dotard that I am!"
Avdyeitch sewed about a dozen stitches, and then felt impelled to look
through the window again. He looked out again through the window, and
saw that Stepanuitch had leaned his shovel against the wall, and was
warming himself, and resting. He was an old, broken-down man; evidently
he had not strength enough even to shovel the snow. Avdyeitch said to
himself:--
"I will give him some tea; by the way, the samovar has only just gone
out." Avdyeitch laid down his awl, rose from his seat, put the samovar
on the table, poured out the tea, and tapped with his finger at the
glass. Stepanuitch turned around, and came to the window. Avdyeitch
beckoned to him, and went to open the door.
"Come in, warm yourself a little," he said. "You must be cold."
"May Christ reward you for this! my bones ache," said Stepanuitch.
Stepanuitch came in, and shook off the snow, tried to wipe his feet, so
as not to soil the floor, but staggered.
"Don't trouble to wipe your feet. I will clean it up myself; we are used
to such things. Come in and sit down," said Avdyeitch. "Here, drink a
cup of tea."
And Avdyeitch lifted two glasses, and handed one to his guest; while he
himself poured his tea into a saucer, and began to blow it.
Stepanuitch finished drinking his glass of tea, turned the glass upside
down,(7) put the half-eaten lump of sugar on it, and began to express
his thanks. But it was evident he wanted some more.
(7) To signify he was satisfied; a custom among the Russians.--Ed.
"Have some more," said Avdyeitch, filling both his own glass and his
guest's. Avdyeitch drank his tea, but from time to time glanced out into
the street.
"Are you expecting anyone?" asked his guest.
"Am I expecting anyone? I am ashamed even to tell whom I expect. I am,
and I am not, expecting someone; but one word has kindled a fire in my
heart. Whether it is a dream, or something else, I do not know. Don't
you see, brother, I was reading yesterday the Gospel about Christ the
Batyushka; how He suffered, how He walked on the earth. I suppose you
have heard about it?"
"Indeed I have," replied Stepanuitch; "but we are people in darkness, we
can't read."
"Well, now, I was reading about that very thing,--how He walked on the
earth; I read, you know, how He came to the Pharisee, and the Pharisee
did not treat Him hospitably. Well, and so, my brother, I was reading
yesterday, about this very thing, and was thinking to myself how he did
not receive Christ, the Batyushka, with honor. Suppose, for example, He
should come to me, or anyone else, I said to myself, I should not even
know how to receive Him. And he gave Him no reception at all. Well!
while I was thus thinking, I fell asleep, brother, and I heard someone
call me by name. I got up; the voice, just as if someone whispered,
said, 'Be on the watch; I shall come to-morrow.' And this happened
twice. Well! would you believe it, it got into my head? I scolded
myself--and yet I am expecting Him, the Batyushka."
Stepanuitch shook his head, and said nothing; he finished drinking his
glass of tea, and put it on the side; but Avdyeitch picked up the glass
again, and filled it once more.
"Drink some more for your good health. You see, I have an idea that,
when the Batyushka went about on this earth, He disdained no one, and
had more to do with the simple people. He always went to see the simple
people. He picked out His disciples more from among folk like such
sinners as we are, from the working class. Said He, whoever exalts
himself, shall be humbled, and he who is humbled shall become exalted.
Said He, you call me Lord, and, said He, I wash your feet. Whoever
wishes, said He, to be the first, the same shall be a servant to all.
Because, said He, blessed are the poor, the humble, the kind, the
generous."
And Stepanuitch forgot about his tea; he was an old man, and easily
moved to tears. He was listening, and the tears rolled down his face.
"Come, now, have some more tea," said Avdyeitch; but Stepanuitch made
the sign of the cross, thanked him, turned down his glass, and arose.
"Thanks to you," he says, "Martuin Avdyeitch, for treating me kindly,
and satisfying me, soul and body."
"You are welcome; come in again; always glad to see a friend," said
Avdyeitch.
Stepanuitch departed; and Martuin poured out the rest of the tea, drank
it up, put away the dishes, and sat down again by the window to work, to
stitch on a patch. He kept stitching away, and at the same time looking
through the window. He was expecting Christ, and was all the while
thinking of Him and His deeds, and his head was filled with the
different speeches of Christ.
Two soldiers passed by: one wore boots furnished by the crown, and the
other one, boots that he had made; then the master(8) of the next house
passed by in shining galoshes; then a baker with a basket passed by. All
passed by; and now there came also by the window a woman in woolen
stockings and rustic bashmaks on her feet. She passed by the window, and
stood still near the window-case.
(8) _Khozyain._
Avdyeitch looked up at her from the window, and saw it was a stranger, a
woman poorly clad, and with a child; she was standing by the wall with
her back to the wind, trying to wrap up the child, and she had nothing
to wrap it up in. The woman was dressed in shabby summer clothes; and
from behind the frame, Avdyeitch could hear the child crying, and the
woman trying to pacify it; but she was not able to pacify it.