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RECOLLECTIONS OF CHILDHOOD 63
stature, elegant as a porcelain doll, clad in a
low-necked, scarlet velvet gown, with a garnet necklace
on her magnificent white neck, with a brilliant color
on her round cheeks, an arrogant expression in her
large, black eyes, and a stereotyped smile on her small,
rosy mouth. I tried to imagine how those huge eyes
must have opened wider yet, what terror must have
been depicted in them, when she suddenly saw before
her the peaceable slaves who had come to kill her!
Then I began to imagine myself in her place.
While Dunyåsha was undressing me it suddenly
flashed across my mind: what if her kind, round face
were to undergo a change all at once, and become
malicious; what if she were suddenly to clap her
hands, and then Ilya and Stepàn and Sasha were to
enter and say: " We have come to kill you, miss!"
All at once I am thoroughly alarmed by this absurd
thought, so that I do not detain Dunyåsha, as usual,
but, on the contrary, am almost glad when she
finishes my toilet for the night, and goes off, at last,
carrying the candle with her. But still I cannot go to
sleep, and I lie for a long time in the dark with eyes
wide open, impatiently waiting to see whether the
governess will come soon, when she gets through
playing cards up-stairs with the grown-up people.
Every time that I am left alone with uncle Piötr
Vasilievitch this story involuntarily recurs to my
mind, and it seems to me strange and
incomprehensible that this man, who has suffered so much in his
day, should now play chess with me as calmly as if
nothing had happened, make me paper boats, or wax
enthusiastic over some project or other of reclaiming
the ancient bed of the Syr-Darya, or over some other
newspaper article. Children always find it hard to
imagine that any one of those nearly connected with
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