gers during the day concerning
Polikey was to the effect that neighboring peasants had seen him running
up and down the road and asking every one he met if he or she had found
an envelope.

One of them had seen him also walking by the side of his tired-out
horse. "I thought," said he, "that the man was drunk, and had not fed
his horse for two days--the animal looked so exhausted."

Unable to sleep, and with her heart palpitating at every sound, Akulina
lay awake all night vainly awaiting Polikey's return. When the cock
crowed the third time she was obliged to get up to attend to the fire.
Day was just dawning and the church-bells had begun to ring. Soon all
the children were also up, but there was still no tidings of the missing
husband and father.

In the morning the chill blasts of winter entered their humble home, and
on looking out they saw that the houses, fields, and roads were thickly
covered with snow. The day was clear and cold, as if befitting the
holy-day they were about to celebrate. They were able to see a long
distance from the house, but no one was in sight.

Akulina was busy baking cakes, and had it not been for the joyous shouts
of the children she would not have known that Polikey was coming up the
road, for a few minutes later he came in with a bundle in his hand and
walked quietly to his corner. Akulina noticed that he was very pale and
that his face bore an expression of suffering--as if he would like to
have cried but could not do so. But she did not stop to study it, but
excitedly inquired: "What! Illitch, is everything all right with you?"

He slowly muttered something, but his wife could not understand what he
said.

"What!" she cried out, "have you been to see our mistress?"

Polikey still sat on the bed in his corner, glaring wildly about him,
and smiling bitterly. He did not reply for a long time, and Akulina
again cried:

"Eh? Illitch! Why don't you answer me? Why don't you speak?"

Finally he said: "Akulina, I delivered the money to our mistress; and
oh, how she thanked me!" Then he suddenly looked about him, with an
anxious, startled air, and with a sad smile on his lips. Two things in
the room seemed to engross the most of his attention: the baby in the
cradle, and the rope which was attached to the ladder. Approaching the
cradle, he began with his thin fingers quickly to untie the knot in the
rope by which the two were connected. After untying it he stood for a
few moments loo