And He would give the soul the wings of seraphim—six white wings. Yaakov Shumov spoke of the soul as carefully, as reluctantly, and as seldom as grandmother. When he was abused, he never blasphemed, and when others discussed the soul he said nothing, bowing his red, bull-like neck. When I asked him what the soul was like, he replied:
"The soul is the breath of God."
This did not enlighten me much, and I asked for more; upon which the stoker, inclining his head, said:
"Even priests do not know much about the soul, little brother; that is hidden from us."
He held my thoughts continually, in a stubborn effort to understand him, but it was an unsuccessful effort. I saw nothing else but him. He shut out everything else with his broad figure.
The stewardess bore herself towards me with suspicious kindness. In the morning, I was deputed to take hot water for washing to her, although this was the duty of the second-class chambermaid, Lusha, a fresh, merry girl. When I stood in the narrow cabin, near the stewardess, who was stripped to the waist, and looked upon her yellow body, flabby as half-baked pastry, I thought of the lissom, swarthy body of "Queen Margot," and felt disgusted. And the stewardess talked all the time, now complainingly and scolding, now crossly and mockingly.
I did not grasp the meaning of her speech, although I dimly guessed at it—at its pitiful, low, shameful meaning. But I was not disturbed by it. I lived far away from the stewardess, and from all that went on in the boat. I lived behind a great rugged rock, which hid from me all that world. All that went on during those days and nights flowed away into space.
"Our Gavrilovna is quite in love with you." I heard the laughing words of Lusha as in a dream. "Open your mouth, and take your happiness."
And not only did she make fun of me, but all the dining-room attendants knew of the weakness of their mistress. The cook said, with a frown:
"The woman has tasted everything, and now she has a fancy for pastry! People like that——! You look, Pyeshkov, before you leap."