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RECOLLECTIONS OF CHILDHOOD 119
As I have already said, mother and Aniuta went
nearly every winter to Petersburg, where they had a
whole colony of aunts, all spinsters. They occupied
a whole house on Vasily Island, and when my mother
and sister arrived they gave them two or three rooms.
Father usually remained in the country. I also was
left at home, in charge of the governess. But this
year, as the Englishwoman was gone, and the
newly-arrived seamstress did not yet enjoy their full
confidence, mother decided, to my inexpressible delight, to
take me with her.
"We set out in January, taking advantage of the
last good winter road. The journey to Petersburg
was no easy matter. We had to travel for sixty
versts on a road connecting two large villages, with
our own horses; then two hundred on the highway,
with post-horses; and at last, about twenty-four hours
on the railway. We set out in the large covered
carriage, or runners. Mama, Aniuta, and I röde in it,
and it was drawn by six horses, while in front went a
sledge containing the maid and the luggage, drawn
by three horses with bells, and throughout the whole
journey the ringing language of the bells, now near,
now far, now quite dying away in the distance, then
again suddenly resounding in our very ears,
accompanied and sang a lullaby to us.
How many preparations were made for that
journey! In the kitchen they cooked and roasted as
many savory things as would have sufficed, I think,
for a whole expedition. Our cook was renowned
throughout the neighborhood for his puff-paste, and
never did he make such efforts in that direction as
when he prepared melting patties for his mistresses
to eat on the journey.
And what a splendid journey it was! The first
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