"I don't know...."
"H'm—and where is he going now?"
"He will go and get drunk," Matrona replied in a convinced tone of voice.
The doctor frowned and left her.
Matrona looked out of the window. Through the darkness of the night, and through the rain and wind, she could discern the figure of a man leaving the Infirmary, and walking towards the town. He was the only living thing to be seen in the dreary wet expanse of fields.
Matrona's face grew still whiter; she went towards a corner of the room, dropped on her knees, and began to pray fervently, her head bowed almost to the floor. Deep sighs and ardent words of passionate prayer escaped from her lips, whilst in her excitement and anguish her hands clutched feverishly at her throat and breast.
[CHAPTER IX]
I was inspecting one day the technical school of the town of N——. One of the founders of the school, a personal friend of mine, was showing me round. He pointed out all the new and model arrangements and gave me an account of everything.
"As you see, we may be proud of our work.... Our school, which we planted at first like a small seed, has grown into a well-developed and splendid institution. We have been exceedingly fortunate in the choice of our teachers. In the shoemaking class, for instance, we have a woman-teacher, who was formerly the wife of a shoemaker, a charming bright little creature, simple in her nature, and irreproachable as to character. And how she works!... She is indeed a wonder!... Her way of teaching her trade too is quite astonishing; she has such patience and love for the children. She gets only twelve roubles a month besides her lodging, and at the price she is a treasure.... Out of her scanty earnings she herself supports two orphan children!... She's a most interesting person, I can tell you!..."