a day or two."

She hurriedly made the sign of the cross over me several times and
said:

"Well, God be with you. Be happy. Anyuta Blagovo is a very clever
girl; she says about your marriage that God is sending you a fresh
ordeal. To be sure--married life does not bring only joy but
suffering too. That's bound to be so."

Masha and I walked a couple of miles to see her on her way; we
walked back slowly and in silence, as though we were resting. Masha
held my hand, my heart felt light, and I had no inclination to talk
about love; we had become closer and more akin now that we were
married, and we felt that nothing now could separate us.

"Your sister is a nice creature," said Masha, "but it seems as
though she had been tormented for years. Your father must be a
terrible man."

I began telling her how my sister and I had been brought up, and
what a senseless torture our childhood had really been. When she
heard how my father had so lately beaten me, she shuddered and drew
closer to me.

"Don't tell me any more," she said. "It's horrible!"

Now she never left me. We lived together in the three rooms in the
big house, and in the evenings we bolted the door which led to the
empty part of the house, as though someone were living there whom