"We used to save more manure, that is why."
"No, mother dear, that is not the reason. It was God's blessing, that's what it was. I remember father once brought an apple from the orchard, and it surprised everybody, it was too big to be put on a plate."
"Well, I don't remember that. I know generally that apples used to be fine, but that they were the size of a plate, that I don't remember. I do remember though, that we caught a carp in the Dubrovino pond weighing twenty pounds, yes, I remember that."
"Carps and fruit—everything was large then. I remember the watermelons the gardener Ivan used to get. They were as big as this!"
Yudushka stretched out his arms in a circle, pretending he could not embrace the imaginary watermelon.
"Yes, those were watermelons. Watermelons, my friend, are according to the year. One year you get lots of them and they are good. Another year they are poor and few. And some years you don't get any at all. Well, it depends upon the lucky ground, too. On the estate of Grigory Aleksandrovich, for example, nothing came up, no fruit and no berries—nothing. Only melons. Nothing but melons used to come up."
"Then he had God's blessing for melons."
"Why, yes, certainly. You can't get along without God's mercy. You can't run away from it either."
Arina Petrovna finished her second cup and cast glances at the card table. Yevpraksia, too, was burning with impatience to have a hand at cards. But the plans were thwarted by Arina Petrovna herself. She suddenly recollected something.
"I have a bit of news for you," she declared. "I received a letter from the orphans yesterday."