Sofia Alexandrovna goes to the image. She thrusts aside with her foot
the small velvet rug which Glasha had purposely laid there the day
before. She throws herself down on her knees before the image. You hear
her knees strike the floor softly. Sofia Alexandrovna quietly crosses
herself, bends her face to the floor, and mutters passionately:
“O Lord, Thou knowest, Thou knowest all, Thou canst do all. Do this, O
Lord, return him to us, to his mother, return him to-day.”
Her prayer is warm and passionate, quite unlike a prayer. Its words are
disconnected, and they fall confusedly, like small, broken tears. Her
naked feet come in contact with the cold, painted floor. And the
entire, warm, prostrate body of the weeping woman is throbbing and
trembling on the boards. Her head repeatedly strikes the boards,
loosening her dark braids of hair.
She does not pray long. The torrents of tears have cleansed her soul,
as it were; and she becomes at once cheerful and tranquil.
She rises quite, as suddenly, and rings. She seats herself on the edge
of the bed, and dries her tears with a soft handkerchief. Then she
laughs silently. She swings one of her feet impatiently, striking the
rug in front of the bed with the toes. Her eyes wander about the room,
but seem to observe nothing.
Glasha had only just begun to dress, and she had only tied the strings
of her apron round her slender waist. The sharp impatient ring causes
her to start. She runs to the _barinya_, seizing quickly at the same
time a pair of blackened boots and some clothes from the laundry.
Sofia Alexandrovna cries in an urgent voice:
“Now be quick, Glasha. Help me on with my things.”
She looks on impatiently as Glasha puts down her burden.
The daily ceremony is gone through quickly. Sofia Alexandrovna dresses
herself. Glasha only draws on her boots, and hooks up her dress behind.
Soon Sofia Alexandrovna is quite ready. She gives a brief, vacant look
in the mirror.
Her pale face still seems to be young and handsome. She is slender,
like her mother, and small in stature. She has on a closely fitting
white dress with short, wide sleeves. Her coiffure is arranged in a
Greek knot, held fast with a red ribbon. Her slender, shapely feet are
clad in coloured silk stockings and white shoes with silver buckles.