n pass it there."

"Just like moles! But it will be pitch-dark, Grandfather."

"Well, we will light some pine-chips. Don't worry about that. All you
have to do is to grow and get strong, so as to look after me, if I am
not first----"

"What, Grandfather? If you are not first----"

But instead of answering, Ivan shook his head, and went to one side.

IX

St. Martin's summer came and went. In the forest it became so cold, that
Ivan thought of giving Anjuta into the charge of one of the villagers
for the winter. But none of them could afford to take care of her. They
were already beginning to mix the meal, which was their food during the
winter, with pieces of pine-bark and chaff. Moreover, the old man would
have sorely missed the clear, eager childish eyes, which looked so
confidingly into his, and the merry laughter which relieved the
monotony of his dark life. The forest became more and more silent in
preparation for its winter sleep; and winter came stealing on with
muffled footsteps.

"It is time, Anjuta, to dig our hole for the winter. To-morrow, with
Gods help, I will begin. There the frost cannot pinch us, when we sit
together and gossip."

"Do you know how to sing, too, Grandfather?"

"Never mind that. The songs which I sing are not for you. But I will
tell you many things, for you are still stupid, and must learn how
things go in life, so that you may get on well, and not be a burden to
others. The world, Anjuta, is like a bottomless pit. It is easy to go
down, but one never finds the way up again, and nobody helps one. The
Pope[2] told me once that there used to be good people who loved all men
alike and did good alike to all. Even for lepers they did something."

[Footnote 2: Village priest.]

"What does that mean--'lepers'?"

"Lepers?" He hesitated. "It is a pity I never thought of asking the Pope
what it meant. Every one had a horror of them. They were not allowed to
go about as they liked." He thought for a moment. "Yes, Anjuta, I
remember now. Lepers are those who sit behind iron bars. Men fasten
fetters on them and march them up the streets with soldiers on both
sides. You see, good people in their great kindness have helped the
lepers, that is the convicts. They have done no end of good to all men,
but wicked men and scoundrels who ought to have honoured and loved them,
like fathers, have tortured and crucified them."

"What does 'crucified' mean?"

"They drove nails through their hand