[1] The two principal characters in one of the legendary stories of Russia.
CHAPTER VI.
Dimly burnt the lamp before the glass case in which glittered the gold and silver frames of the sacred images. The flickering light faintly illuminated the curtained bed and the little table set out with labelled medicine-bottles. Near the stove sat a servant-maid at her spinning-wheel, and the subdued noise of the spindle was the only sound that broke the silence of the room.
“Who is there?” asked a feeble voice.
The servant-maid rose immediately, approached the bed, and gently raised the curtain.
“Will it soon be daylight?” asked Natalia.
“It is already midday,” replied the maid.
“Oh, Lord of Heaven! and why is it so dark?”