The Novels and Other Works of Lyof N. Tolstoa- (Volume 10)

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: ... CHAPTER XXVIII THE LAST SAD MEMORIES Mamma was dead, but our life pursued its usual course. We went to bed and got up at the same hours, and in the same rooms; morning and evening tea, dinner, supper, all took place at the usual time; the tables and chairs stood in the same places; nothing was changed in the house or in our manner of life, only--she was no more. It seemed to me that, after such a catastrophe, all must change; our ordinary manner of life appeared to me an insult to her memory, and recalled her absence too vividly. After dinner, on the evening before the funeral, I wanted to go to sleep; and I went to Natalya Savischna's room, intending to install myself in her bed, on the soft feather-bed, and beneath the warm quilted coverlet. When I entered, Natalya Savischna was lying on her bed, and was probably asleep; hearing the noise of my footsteps, she rose up, flung aside the woolen cloth which protected her head from the flies, and, adjusting her cap, seated herself on the edge of the bed. As I had previously been in the habit of coming rather frequently, after dinner, to sleep in her room, she divined the reason for my appearance, and said to me, as she rose from the bed:--"What is it? Probably you have come to get some rest, my dear? Lie down." "What is the matter with you, Natalya Savischna?" I said, holding her hand. "That is not it at all.--I just came.... and you are weary yourself; you had better lie down." "No, my dear, I have slept enough," she said. (I knew that she had not slept for three days, for grief.) "And besides I am not sleepy now," she added, with a deep sigh. I wanted to discuss our misfortune with Natalya Savischna. I knew her honesty and love, and it would have been a comfort to me to weep with her. "Natalya Savischna," I...