“Ah, my son,” she went on, “he who destroyed the happiness of these good, pious people, who tore down their house and scattered the whole family to the winds, may that man be judged by God!  He fell like a wolf upon their goods and chattels.  I wish no evil to him, but if there is a God in heaven may he find no peace in his house, may his children bring no joy to him, and may no happiness find its way within his four walls.  As he ruined those four poor wretches and was guilty of their early death, so may he roam over the wide world without rest nor find in sleep any comfort!  Yes, may his trouble and sorrow increase with the abundance of his wealth!

“I knew Sarkis when he was still a boy.  When you knew him he must have been about forty years old.  He was always just as you saw him:  reserved, discreet, pious, beneficent to the poor, and hospitable.  It never occurred that he spoke harshly to his wife or raised his hand against his children.  He was ever satisfied with what he had; never complained that he had too little, or coveted the possessions of others.  Yes, a pious man was Sarkis, and his wife had the same virtues.  Early in childhood she lost her parents, and relatives of her mother adopted her, but treated her badly.  Yes, bitter is the lot of the orphan, for even if they have means they are no better off than the poor!  They said that when her father died he left her a store with goods worth about 3,000 rubles, and beside that 2,000 ducats in cash; but he was hardly dead when the relations came and secured the stock and gold as guardians of the orphan.  When she was fourteen years old, one after another wooed her, but when the go-betweens found out that there was nothing left of her property they went away and let the girl alone.

“Happily for her, Sarkis appeared, and said:  ’I want a wife; I seek no riches,’ Of course, the relations gave her to him at once, and with her all sorts of trumpery, some half-ruined furniture, and a few gold pieces.  ‘That is all her father left,’ they said, and demanded from him a receipt for the whole legacy from her father.  That was the way they shook her off!

“At that time Sarkis himself had nothing, and was just as poor as his wife.  He was clerk in a store, and received not more than 150 rubles in notes yearly, which were worth in current money scarcely one-third their face value.  Yes, they were both poor, but God’s mercy is great and no one can fathom his purposes!  In the same year the merchant whom he served suddenly died after making over to Sarkis the whole store and all that was in it, on condition that a certain sum should be paid every year to the widow.

“Sarkis took the business, and after three years he was sole owner of it.  He increased it continually, and on the plot of ground he had inherited from his father he built a pretty house and moved into it.  In the same year God gave him a daughter, whom he named Takusch, and four years later his son Toros came into the world.