Russia in 1839 -Empire of the Czar: A Journey Through Eternal Russia

THE HISTORY OF THELENEF.113

often obliged him to be absent for a considerable

о

time. While thus alone, the nurse of the young girl suddenly appeared before her.

" What can you want with me so late ? " asked Xenie.

" Come and take your tea with us ; I have made it ready for you," replied the nurse.*

" I am not accustomed to go out at such an hour."

" You must, however, to-day. Come, what should you fear with me ? "

Xenie, accustomed to the taciturnity of the Russian peasants, imagined that her nurse had prepared some surprise for her. She therefore rose and followed the old woman.

The village was deserted. At first Xenie believed that it only slept. The night was perfectly calm, and not dark: not a breath of wind disturbed the willows of the marsh, nor bent the long grass of the meadows; not a cloud veiled the stars of heaven. Neither the distant barking of the dog, nor the bleating of the sheep was to be heard; the cattle had ceased to low in the stall; the herdsman was no longer heard to chaunt his melancholy song, similar to the low trill which precedes the cadence of the nightingale; a silence more profound than the usual silence of the night, brooded over the plain, and weighed upon the heart of Xenie, who began to experience indefinable

* The poorest Russians possess a teapot and a copper kettle,

and drink tea morning and evening in log huts, whose crevices

are stuffed with moss, and whose extremely rude appearance

contrasts strangely with the elegance and delicacy of the

beverage ou which they regale. — Note of the Author of the

Travels.i уv