"You are a mean thing," he said. "The devil dwells in you. Fi, fi! Well, enough. To-morrow, before the sun is up, you'll take Volodka and quickly, so that Yevpraksia does not hear you, and set out for Moscow. You know where the Foundling Asylum is?"
"I've carried them," Ulita answered laconically, as if hinting at something in the past.
"Well, if you are used to it—all the better for you. You must know all the ins and outs of the place. Be sure to place him there and bow low before the authorities—like this." Yudushka rose and bowed, touching the floor with his hands.
"Beg of them to make him comfortable. And be sure to get the card, don't forget! The card will help us find him anywhere. I'll allow you two twenty-five ruble bills for expenses. I know how it is—you'll have to give some here and put a couple of rubles there. Ah, ah, how sinful man is! We are all human beings, nothing but human beings! We all like sweets and dainties. Why, even our Volodka! Look at him—he is no bigger than my finger nail—and see the money I've already spent on him."
Yudushka crossed himself and bowed low before Ulita, silently begging her to take good care of the little rascal.
Thus, in the simplest way, was the future of the little illegitimate arranged for.
The next morning, while the young mother was tossing about in delirium, Porfiry Vladimirych was standing at the window in the dining-room, moving his lips and making the sign of the cross on the window pane. A cart, roofed over with mats, was leaving the front yard. It was carrying Volodka away.
It climbed up the hill, drove by the church, turned to the left and vanished in the village. Yudushka made another sign of the cross and sighed:
"The other day the priest was speaking about thawing weather," he said to himself, "but God sent us a frost instead. And a fine frost, at that. So it always is with us. We dream, we build castles in the air, we philosophize proudly and think we'll excel God Himself in His wisdom, but God in a trice turns our haughtiness of spirit into nothingness."