For some minutes it was impossible to bring any order out of the
general chaos. The people ran about in crowds, all screaming, all
talking; children and old people weeping. Akulína lay in a dead faint.
At last some peasants, the joiner, and the overseer, who came running
up, mounted the stairs; and the joiner's wife for the twentieth time
related how she, without any thought of any thing, went after her
clothes, looked in this way: "I see a man; I look more close: there's a
cap lying on one side. I see his legs twitching. Then a cold chill ran
down my back. At last I make out a man hanging there, and ... that I
should have to see that! How ever I got down is more than I can tell.
And it is a miracle that God saved me. Truly the Lord had mercy. It was
so steep, and--such a height! I might have got my death."
The men who went into the loft told the same story. Ilyitch was hanging
from the beam, in his shirt and stockings alone, with the very rope
that he had taken off from the cradle. His cap which had fallen off lay
beside him. He had taken off his jacket and sheepskin shuba, and folded
them neatly. His feet just touched the floor, and there was not a sign
of life. Akulína came to herself, and tried to climb to the loft again;
but they would not let her.
"Mamma,[17] little brother has fallen into the water," suddenly
screamed the sibilating girl from the _corner._ Akulína tore herself
away, and darted back to the house. The babe, not stirring, lay head
downwards in the tub, and his legs were motionless. Akulína seized him,
but the child did not breathe, and gave no signs of life. Akulína threw
him on the bed, put her arms akimbo, and burst into a fit of laughter
so loud, discordant, and terrible, that Mashka, who at first began to
laugh too, put her fingers in her ears, and ran weeping into the entry.
The people also poured into the _corner,_ and filled it with their
lamentations. They picked up the child, and tried to bring him to;
but it was in vain. Akulína jumped about on the bed, and laughed and
laughed so uncannily, that it threw a terror over those who heard it.
And now to see this heterogeneous throng of lusty peasants and women,
of old men and children, pressing into the entry, one could get some
idea of the number of people who lived in the servants' quarters.[18]
All were running about this way and that, all talking at once; many
were weeping, and no one did any thing useful. The joiner's wife kept
finding new-comers who had not heard her story; and again and again she
repeated how her deepest feelings had been stirred up by the unexpected
sight, and how God had saved her from falling down the stairs. The old
butler, in a woman's jacket, told how a woman in the time of the late
bárin had drowned herself in the pond. The overseer sent messengers
after the police inspector[19] and a priest, and stationed guards. The
maid-servant Aksiutka, her eyes red with weeping, peeped through a
hole in the loft; and though she could not see any thing there, yet she
could not tear herself away and go to her mistress.
Agáfya Mikhaïlovna, who had been the dowager's lady's-maid, made some
tea to calm her nerves, and wept. The experienced old grandmother,
Anna, with her swollen hands smeared with olive-oil, was laying out
upon the table the dead body of the little babe. The women stood
around Akulína, and looked at her in silence. The children who lived
in the _corners_ looked at the mother, and began to cry, then choked
down their sobs, and then again, looking at her, began to weep louder
than ever. The boys and men collected around the steps, and with
terror-stricken faces peered into the door and into the windows, unable
to see any thing, and not understanding it all, and asking each other
questions about what had happened. One said that the joiner had cut his
wife's leg off with an axe. Another said that the laundress had had
triplets. A third said that the cook's cat had had a fit, and bitten
the people. But the truth gradually became generally known, and at last
reached the mistress's ears. And it seems that they hadn't the wit to
break the news gently to her: the rough Yégor told her point-blank, and
so shattered her nerves that for a long time afterwards she could not
get over it.
The crowd now began to grow calmer! The joiner's wife set up her
samovar, and made some warm tea; and so those from outside, not
receiving an invitation, took the hint that it was incumbent upon them
to go home. The boys began to tear themselves away from the steps.
Everybody now knew what the trouble was, and crossing themselves were
beginning to scatter in different directions, when suddenly the cry
was raised, "bárinya, bárinya."[20] and all came rushing back again,
and crowding together so as to give her room to pass. Nevertheless, all
wanted to see what the lady would do.
The bárinya, pale, and with tears in her eyes, passed through the
entry, and crossed the threshold into Akulína's _corner._ A dozen heads
crowded together and peered through the door. They pressed so violently
against one woman who was heavy with child, that she screamed, but
nevertheless, taking advantage of the situation, this same woman
managed to get the foremost place. And how could they help wishing to
see the mistress in Akulína's _corner!_ For the domestics it was much
the same as a Bengal fire at the end of an exhibition. Of course it's
a fine thing to burn the Bengal fire; and of course it's a fine thing
when the mistress, in her silk and laces, goes into Akulína's _corner._
The lady went up to Akulína, and took her by the hand. But Akulína
snatched it away. The old domestics shook their heads disapprovingly.
"Akulína," said the lady, "for your children's sake calm yourself."
Akulína gave a loud laugh and drew herself up.
"My children are solid silver, solid silver! I don't deal in paper
notes," she muttered rapidly. "I told Ilyitch, 'Don't keep the
bank-notes,' and now they've smeared him with tar, smeared him--with
tar and soap, lady. So if he's got the barn-itch, it'll cure him right
away;" and again she went into a fit of laughter, louder than before.
The mistress turned around, and asked for the doctor's boy with some
mustard. "Give me some cold water," and she herself began to look about
for water. But when she saw the dead child, and the old grandmother
Anna standing by him, the mistress turned away, and all saw that she
covered her face with a handkerchief and wept. But the grandmother
Anna (it was a pity that the mistress did not see it: she would have
appreciated it, and it was all done for her too) covered the child with
a piece of linen, folded the little arms with her soft, skilful hand,
and arranged the little head, composed the lips, and feelingly closed
the eyes, and sighed, so that every one could see what a beautiful
heart she had. But the mistress did not see it, and she could not have
seen it. She began to sob, and when the first attack of hysterics was
over they led her out into the entry, and they led her home.
"That's all she could do," was what many thought, and they began to
separate. Akulína was still laughing, and talking nonsense. They led
her into another room, cupped her, put on mustard-plasters, applied
ice to her forehead; but all the time she did not understand it in the
least, did not weep, but laughed, and said and did such things that the
kind people who were waiting on her could not restrain themselves, but
even laughed.
[Footnote 17: _mámuska._]
[Footnote 18: _fliger,_ peasant corruption of _flügel,_ the wing; the
collection of izbás occupied by the _dvoróvui_ or domestic servants.]
[Footnote 19: _stanovóï._]
[Footnote 20: "The mistress, the mistress," or, "the gracious lady."
_Bárin_ and _báruinya_ or _bárinya_ are the terms used by the domestics
for the master and mistress.]