“Haven't you any warm clothes?”
“Now is the time, friend, to wear warm clothes; but yesterday I pawned my last shawl for a twenty-kopek piece.”[(10)]
The woman came to the bed, and took the child; and Avdyeitch rose, went to the partition, rummaged round, and succeeded in finding an old coat.
“Na!” says he; “It is a poor thing, yet you may turn it to some use.”
The woman looked at the coat and looked at the old man; she took the coat, and burst into tears; and Avdyeitch turned away his head; crawling under the bed, he pushed out a little trunk, rummaged in it, and sat down again opposite the woman.
And the woman said:—
“May Christ bless you, little grandfather![(11)] He must have sent me to your window. My little baby would have frozen to death. When I started out it was warm, but now it has grown cold. And He, the Batyushka, led you to look through the window and take pity on me, an unfortunate.”
Avdyeitch smiled, and said:—
“Indeed, He did that! I have been looking through the window, my good woman, for some wise reason.”
And Martuin told the soldier's wife his dream, and how he heard the voice,—how the Lord promised to come and see him that day.