Complete works Volume 11

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1902 Excerpt: ...eyes. They chatted about farm management. Dame Ulitka came and went in the enthusiasm of hospitality. She brought Olyenin grape jelly, grape cakes, her best wine, and insisted on treating him with that rude and proud hospitality peculiar to those who earn their bread by physical labors. The old dame, who had at first so affronted Olyenin by her rudeness, now often touched him by her simple, affectionate treatment of her daughter. "Why fly in the face of Providence, batyushka! We have everything, thank God! we 've been pressing wine and storing it away, and we shall sell three barrels and still have enough to drink. Don't go yet. We will drink some more together in honor of the coming wedding." "But when is the wedding?" asked Olyenin, feeling all his blood rush to his face and his heart beat irregularly and painfully. There was heard a rustling behind the oven, and the cracking of seeds. "Well, why should we put it off any longer? We are ready," replied the old dame, simply and as calmly as if there were no such person as Olyenin in the world. "I have got everything all ready for Maryanushka--a whole store of things. We shall give her a good sendoff. There 's only one little thing that's not quite right. Our Lukashka has been very wild of late; he's on a spree all the time. He is full of his pranks. The other day a Cossack came in from the sotnya and said that he had gone off to the Nogal." "He 'd better look out!" said Olyenin. "Well, I say to him,' Lukashka, don't run such risks; you 're a young man; of course, you want to show off; but you have time enough for everything. You 've fought, and you 've stolen horses, and you 've killed an abrek; you 're a galliard! But now you might live quietly.'.... B...