Do you hear the soft stir and shudder among the
roots of the flowers and grass? The whisper of the trees, the tremor
of leaves and fronds? It is the earth's joyful welcome to the
Spring."
Constantine shook his head: "Not joy ... sorrow. The air is permeated
with the scent of decay. To-morrow will see the Annunciation, a great
festival, little brother, and that recollection has set me thinking.
Look round you! Everywhere are savages--men gone mad with blood and
terror. Death, famine, barbarity ride the world! Idolatry is still
rampant: to this day men believe in wood-spirits, witches and the
devil--and God, oh yes, men still believe in God! They bury their
dead when the bodies should be burnt. They seek to drive away typhus
by religious processions!"
He laughed mockingly.
"I stood the whole time in the train to avoid infection. But the
people do not even think of that: their one thought is bread. I
wanted to sleep through the journey; but a wretched woman, starving
before my very eyes, prevented me. She said she was going to a sister
so as to get milk to drink. She made me feel sick; she could not say
bread, meat, milk, and butter, but called them 'brud,' 'mate,'
'mulk,' and 'buzzer'. 'Ah, for a bit of buzzer--how I will ate it and
enjoy it!' she kept muttering.
"I tell you, Vilyashev, the people are bewildered.
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