Marya told her that she had not only never been in Moscow, but had not even been in their own district town; she could not read or write, and knew no prayers, not even “Our Father.”  Both she and Fyokla, the other sister-in-law, who was sitting a little way off listening, were extremely ignorant and could understand nothing.  They both disliked their husbands; Marya was afraid of Kiryak, and whenever he stayed with her she was shaking with fear, and always got a headache from the fumes of vodka and tobacco with which he reeked.  And in answer to the question whether she did not miss her husband, Fyokla answered with vexation: 

“Miss him!”

They talked a little and sank into silence.

It was cool, and a cock crowed at the top of his voice near the barn, preventing them from sleeping.  When the bluish morning light was already peeping through all the crevices, Fyokla got up stealthily and went out, and then they heard the sound of her bare feet running off somewhere.

II

Olga went to church, and took Marya with her.  As they went down the path towards the meadow both were in good spirits.  Olga liked the wide view, and Marya felt that in her sister-in-law she had someone near and akin to her.  The sun was rising.  Low down over the meadow floated a drowsy hawk.  The river looked gloomy; there was a haze hovering over it here and there, but on the further bank a streak of light already stretched across the hill.  The church was gleaming, and in the manor garden the rooks were cawing furiously.

“The old man is all right,” Marya told her, “but Granny is strict; she is continually nagging.  Our own grain lasted till Carnival.  We buy flour now at the tavern.  She is angry about it; she says we eat too much.”

“Aye, aye, dearie!  Bear it in patience, that is all.  It is written:  ‘Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden.’”

Olga spoke sedately, rhythmically, and she walked like a pilgrim woman, with a rapid, anxious step.  Every day she read the gospel, read it aloud like a deacon; a great deal of it she did not understand, but the words of the gospel moved her to tears, and words like “forasmuch as” and “verily” she pronounced with a sweet flutter at her heart.  She believed in God, in the Holy Mother, in the Saints; she believed one must not offend anyone in the world—­not simple folks, nor Germans, nor gypsies, nor Jews—­and woe even to those who have no compassion on the beasts.  She believed this was written in the Holy Scriptures; and so, when she pronounced phrases from Holy Writ, even though she did not understand them, her face grew softened, compassionate, and radiant.

“What part do you come from?” Marya asked her.

“I am from Vladimir.  Only I was taken to Moscow long ago, when I was eight years old.”

They reached the river.  On the further side a woman was standing at the water’s edge, undressing.