Though my heart was heavy, yet I was young and was used to women. I had two years of married life behind me. But the old woman said, gasping:

"Your wife is dead—that is nothing much. You are young and there are women enough. The streets are full of them."

Here Tatiana said to her sternly:

"Go to bed, Petrovna. I will escort our guest and will lock up."

When the old woman was gone, she asked me earnestly and in a friendly way:

"Have you relatives?"

"None."

"And friends?"

"No friends."

"What are you going to do then?"