Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Sidor ...
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
RECOLLECTIONS OF CHILDHOOD 25
extreme measures—to get possession of her keys, and
to open her trunk at a favorable opportunity, when
she was absent from the house.
No sooner thought than done. Alas, it appeared
that they were perfectly correct in their assumptions.
The contents of the trunk fully confirmed their
suspicions, and proved in the most undoubted manner
that the unhappy Marya Vasilievna was guilty of all
the petty thefts which had created such an uproar in
the immediate past.
"What a wretch! Of course she gave the
preserves to poor Feklusha in order to divert attention,
and cast all the suspicion on her. Ugh! the impious
creature! She even did not spare a little child," said
nurse with horror and disgust, quite forgetting the
part which she herself had played in the whole affair,
and how by her cruelty she had forced poor Feklusha
to testify falsely against herself.
It is easy to imagine the wrath of all the servants,
and of the household in general, when the terrible
truth was brought to light and made known to every
one.
At first, in the heat of his wrath, my father
threatened to send for the police and put Marya Yasilievna
in prison; but in view of the fact that she was
already advanced in age, and a sickly woman, and had
lived so long in our house, he soon became pacified,
and decided merely to deprive her of her place and
send her back to Petersburg.
It would seem as if Marya Vasilievna ought to have
been satisfied with this sentence. She was such a
clever seamstress that there was no danger of her
being left without bread in Petersburg. And what sort
of a position awaited her in our household after such
a scandal? All the other servants had previously
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
