"Oh, I never could have believed that you could be so cruel!"
exclaimed Lubotshka, now bursting into open sobbing as she moved
away from us. "You chose that moment on purpose! You spend your
whole time in trying to make me sin! I'll never go to YOU again
for sympathy and advice!"

VI

CONFESSION

With these and other disjointed impressions in my mind, I returned
to the divannaia. As soon as every one had reassembled, the
priest rose and prepared to read the prayer before confession.
The instant that the silence was broken by the stern, expressive
voice of the monk as he recited the prayer--and more especially
when he addressed to us the words: "Reveal thou all thy sins
without shame, concealment, or extenuation, and let thy soul be
cleansed before God: for if thou concealest aught, then great
will be thy sin"--the same sensation of reverent awe came over me
as I had felt during the morning. I even took a certain pleasure
in recognising this condition of mine, and strove to preserve it,
not only by restraining all other thoughts from entering my
brain, but also by consciously exerting myself to feel no other
sensation than this same one of reverence.

Papa was the first to go to confession. He remained a long, long
time in the room which had belonged to our grandmother, and
during that time the rest of us kept silence in the divannaia, or
only whispered to one another on the subject of who should