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RECOLLECTIONS OF CHILDHOOD 15
but when they began to occur with ever-increasing
frequency, and to extend to articles of greater and
greater value; when things began to disappear in
rapid succession — a silver spoon, a gold thimble, a
mother-of-pearl pen-knife—an uproar arose in the
house. It became apparent that we had a thief in
the house. Nurse, who considered herself responsible
for the children’s belongings, was more alarmed than
all the rest, and determined, at any cost, to discover
the thief.
Naturally, suspicion must fall, first of all, on poor
Feklusha, the maid appointed to our service. It is
true that Feklusha had been attached to the nursery
for the past three years, and nurse had never noticed
anything of the sort about her during all that time.
But, in nurse’s opinion, this proved nothing at all.
" Before, she was young, and did not understand the
value of things," nurse argued," but now she is grown
up and become wiser. Moreover, her family live
yonder in the village, and she is carrying off the
master’s property to them."
On the foundation of this reasoning, nurse became
so permeated with the inward conviction of
Feklu-sha’s guilt that she began to treat her with increasing
surliness and disfavor; and poor, frightened, unhappy
Feklusha, who instinctively felt that she was
suspected, began to exhibit a more and more guilty
aspect.
But watch Feklusha as she would, ni^rse could not
for a long while catch her at anything. One fine day
Aniuta’s money-box, which always stood in nurse’s
cupboard, and contained forty rubles or more,
disappeared. The news of this last loss reached even my
father’s ears; he ordered nurse to be sent to him, and
gave strict orders that the thief must be found with-
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