"You don't seem well," remarked Masha shyly.
"Your eyes are so heavy," added Jakov, and examined him attentively.
Ilya passed his hand involuntarily over his eyes and said, quietly:
"It's nothing; it'll pass off."
A few minutes later he felt he could not endure this painful, distressing association with his friends, and went to his own room without waiting for tea. He had scarcely lain down on his bed before Terenti appeared. Ever since the hunchback had decided to go to the Holy Cities to seek forgiveness for his sins, his face wore a clearer, happier expression, as though he experienced already a foretaste of the joy that release from his weight of guilt would achieve for him. Gently he approached his nephew's bed, and said, smiling and friendly, stroking his beard:
"I saw you come in, and I thought, I'll go and have a chat. We shan't be here together much longer."
"You're really going?" asked Ilya, drily.
"As soon as it's warmer, off I go. I want to be in Kiev for Easter."
"Look here! Couldn't you take little Masha with you?"
"What? No; that's impossible," cried the hunchback, with a gesture of refusal.