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The Serpent
55
shawl, and I have to make over my mother's wedding dress to wear. Yes, we do want the world, but we don't get it !"
Vania flounced out of the miserable room. Her mother sighed and set about a few household tasks with her accustomed lassitude.
"What a spitfire is Vania !" exclaimed Lazar. "I pity Andrey Sobi getting such a tongue as hers. But, by the five wounds, he won't stand her lashings for long, that I know. Very properly will he take the knout to her, and may his arm have strength !" The man leered knowingly at his wife, and then called shaggy Peter away from his bones that he might again philosophize over the animal's affection. Obediently, Peter came to his master and suffered a maudlin mauling, though any one might see that he was anxious about his mutton bones. With several applications of vodka to Lazar, however, Peter was released at the hands of the brutish serf.
The foregoing scene was typical of the Lazar family. More or less, it might be said to be true of the average Russian peasant household. Muzhiks, or peasants, were not given to amenities or niceties of life. The men worked for merest pittances, the women
elf
drudged drearily, and both accomplished as little as possible. Vodka helped them to become indifferent to conditions. Ivan Lazar ran true to form. His wife Martsa was better than the average Russian woman of her class; she was lazy and dirty, but she did not drink. Their daughter had no antecedent in the family, apparently. Vania was beautiful and ambitious, and she dreamed of golden days to come. Hourly she rebelled against her lot, and of late had waxed bitter. Only the hope of Andrey Sobi's future kept her within conventional bounds. Adventurous in spirit, and physically strong, Vania would long ago have run off to St. Petersburg, a two days' tramp afoot, had not her faith in Andrey bound her to the hated confines of Strielna. She was sure that Andrey would make a mark in the world. He was gifted with clever hands, and turned out beautiful vessels of copper and brass. Vania, in her mind's eye, saw him working for the czar, saw his majesty decorate him for his designs, saw their charming home in St. Petersburg. Oh, yes, Vania had it all arranged to suit her taste.
After her hot retort to her father, Vania sought her shabby bed, not to sleep, but to sit upon it and sew her
I
"A man cannot pass his life in gossip and saying his prayers," roared Ivan Lazar, and he took up a portion of sheep's breast and gnawed it.