II + 

Mrs.┬аButtersтАЩs sinless smile was bracketed a little on one side, like a parenthesis. Even her nose was smiling kindly. Yet she was thinking: тАЬThese Russians are really not much use. That hemstitching doesnтАЩt look good.тАЭ However the baby whom the hemstitching would adorn would not be her first. First babies need first-rate hemstitching. But Mrs.┬аButters had had four and the baby she expected in October was only having a new outfit made because its four predecessors had fairly worn the original set to rags. + 

Mrs.┬аButters looked over AnnaтАЩs shoulder. тАЬMy dear Mrs.┬аMalinin, how quick you work! ItтАЩs just wonderful!тБатАКтБатАжтАЭ + 

тАЬQuick but not good,тАЭ said Anna in a wistfully challenging voice. + 

тАЬI think youтАЩre doing fine,тАЭ said Mrs.┬аButters firmly, and then she faltered: тАЬButтБатАФmy dearтБатАФwhy have you drawn the threads out of this hem? ThatтАЩs the side hem. We donтАЩt want hemstitching up the side hem.тАЭ + 

тАЬOi! oi!тАЭ cried Anna. тАЬIs that the side hem? Oi! oi!тАЭ + 

тАЬIt doesnтАЩt matter,тАЭ said Mrs.┬аButters, and then with gathering conviction: тАЬIt really doesnтАЩt matter, Mrs.┬аMalinin. It will hardly show.тАЭ + 

тАЬIt will show,тАЭ said Anna. тАЬIt will show very bad indeed. Oi! what a stupid old woman I am! Can I not weave the threads in again, very watchfully?тАЭ + 

тАЬNo, really, Mrs.┬аMalinin; that would look worse still. No, it will be all right. After all, why shouldnтАЩt the side hem be hemstitched? Quite original. DonтАЩt think of it again.тАЭ + 

Anna went on sewing in silence for a moment, bending her fat abashed face over her work. Turning remorse in her tender heart like a sword in a wound, she imagined Mrs.┬аButters secretly broken with disappointment about the spoiled side hem. In her own affairs Anna was an optimist; disappointment never dwelt long with her. But she imagined the hopes of others as being much more susceptible to blight. She saw herself as an iron Anna living in a world of glass. тАЬShe will always see that stupid hem as she shows the baby to her missionary friends,тАЭ thought Anna, violently. тАЬShe will be able to see nothing else. It will spoil the baby for her completely. I am not worth the money I take from these people. I will refuse todayтАЩs two yen.тАЭ + 

Mrs.┬аButters, seeing that Anna looked sad, hastened to tell a funny story. тАЬDid I tell you what Betty, my quaint second girlie, said after her last Saturday-night bath, Mrs.┬аMalinin? She said, тАШMummy, IтАЩd like to say drace nowтБатАФIтАЩd like to say Thank Dod for a dood hot bath.тАЩтАКтАЭ + 

тАЬHaving done the stupidity now,тАЭ said Anna. тАЬWould it perhaps make it better to do another stupidity to match on the other side?тАЭ Then she noticed that she was once more disappointing Mrs.┬аButters, and added, тАЬAhтБатАФshe said that? But she is funnyтБатАФyour little Betti!тАЭ She gave a boisterous if belated laugh. + 

тАЬShe is a very sensitive, queer child,тАЭ said Mrs.┬аButters. тАЬShe cried when the goat died yesterday. And it wasnтАЩt because she liked the milk, either. She said to me, тАШMummy, I did love dat doatie.тАЩтАКтАЭ + 

тАЬMy husband also cries for such things,тАЭ said Anna. тАЬHe cried when the cat broke its neck. We all cried a little, but my husband most loudly. He is blind, you see, so he must value creatures that he can feel, now that he has lost the seeing of them. When he could see, he did not like creatures. So now we have an orphan kitten, Mrs.┬аButters, and you an orphan kid.тАЭ + 

тАЬAn orphan kid! HavenтАЩt you a quaint way of saying things, Mrs.┬аMalinin! But your English is wonderful, IтАЩm sure. How did you learn such good English?тАЭ + 

тАЬI was for many years a governess in England. I lived in a part of London called Kensington. The little girl I taught was also called Betti; her mother was called Honorable Mrs.┬аAtkinson and wore always pink silk undervests of the most expensive kind. I taught Betti French and German, but I also learned a pretty good deal of English. How cheerfully I remember London! Climbing up the colored stairs on to the roofs of buses, I remember, and sitting on the right-hand corner seat, because in London all carriages drive on the left side, and therefore, sitting so, one may look down on the tops of all carriages going inтБатАФoutтБатАФinтБатАФrunтБатАФstopтБатАФinтБатАФout, like the ice in our rivers here in April. My little pupil, Betti, had a dog in London and always that dog catched buses before us, and climbed up skippingly to the roof, and sat on the right-hand corner seat.тБатАКтБатАж Even if strangers were already there, that dog sat down on the strangers! Ha-ha-ha! A clever dog, called Paddy. Oh, the Kensington Gardens, Mrs.┬аButters! CrocusesтБатАФsuch things we never have in this damn countryтБатАФpurple some and white othersтБатАФall in the green grass. Oh, pretty!тБатАКтБатАж There is a lake in the Kensington Gardens, where Betti and I sailed a boat; sometimes many hours that boat went round foolishly in the middle of the lake, and we wait on the shore, saying, well, give her five more minutesтБатАКтБатАж but sometimesтБатАФoh, the wind there! hairs, boats, skirts, dogтАЩs fur, all blowing one way, and sunтБатАФcloudтБатАФsunтБатАФcloudтБатАФrunning across that so rough pond.тБатАКтБатАж And once a duck bit our boatтБатАФshe was called Die Lustige Witwe.тАЭ + 

тАЬYou Russians are such wonderful linguists,тАЭ murmured Mrs.┬аButters. тАЬAnd I suppose you married then and had a little boy of your own to teach.тАЭ + 

тАЬYes I marry before Seryozha comes, because I think it is good for a child to have a fatherтБатАФeven a father like my old husband. So I marry. We go back to Russia. I have taught Seryozha English as good as I can.тАЭ Anna sighed gustily. A few hairpins dropped out as she sighed. тАЬI thought English is the most useful business language in ChinaтБатАФand now China is our country, since there is no Russia any more. But he will never be a business man, Seryozha. His father had no business gifts. Also Seryozha was born when I was too old. I was thirty-six. If a woman over thirty bears a childтБатАФтАЭ + 

Mrs.┬аButters was a little puzzled by parts of this sentence. Also she preferred the actual bearing of babies to talking about it. + 

тАЬBut Mr.┬аMalinin must have some business gifts. That little shop flourished well, before his misfortune, didnтАЩt it?тАЭ + 

тАЬIt did not,тАЭ said Anna, with a bursting laugh. тАЬNothing that my family does is ever flourishing. Somehow we always bought too much of what nobody wanted and none of what all customers would be asking for. We had much scent last year, and only two Japanese ladies ever boughtтБатАФeach one small bottle at reduced price. They smell of it alwaysтБатАФit is never finished. They came in the shop stinking of our scent and asked for German camera films, which we have not. It is true my husband wasтБатАФhow do you say?тБатАФcompradore? to the Tao-yin for some years, he has buyed for him his foreign goodsтБатАФwoolens, wines, jewelsтБатАФbut he has made very many mistakes, and after that Tao-yin has been dead, the new one wants not my blunderous old manтАЩs help.тБатАКтБатАж Then this new Tao-yin is murdered (do you know people have said it is the two sons of his not-loved concubine have murdered him?); then comes this modern chap who wants no old men anywhere. He buys his foreign goods through our nephew, Andrei Malinin. Our nephew is very trusted by the now Tao-yin. It is Andryusha who has helped my old husband in our trouble by entreating for him. But he cannot entreat our business back. Pitying is kind, yes? but it is not business. Well, it doesnтАЩt matter. My husband has never been good business fellow; now it does not matter, for we have no more business to blunder with.тАЭ + 

тАЬBut surely,тАЭ said Mrs.┬аButters, тАЬwith your nephewтАЩs help you can get some compensation for the looting of your shop. They had no right to do it.тАЭ + 

тАЬEveryone has the right to do all things to Russians now,тАЭ said Anna. тАЬBesides, my husband was certainly very silly. He beat some Chinese soldiers, and so angered them.тАЭ + 

Mrs.┬аButters tried for a moment, with confused missionary charity, to imagine Old Sergei beating anybody. тАЬI suppose he did it in righteous anger,тАЭ she said, hopefully. + 

тАЬOi! He did it in foolishness,тАЭ said Anna. тАЬThere is no need for so much defending of dead Russian heroes. Once a man is dead he is dead and has not much honor to defend. But my husband runs always after dead men; he beat these Chinese for interrupting the peace of Russian dead soldiersтБатАФso the Chinese interrupt the peace of his alive wife and son. But alive ones donтАЩt matter to my husband. He is a man full of folly.тАЭ + 

тАЬVery good of him, IтАЩm sure,тАЭ said Mrs.┬аButters vaguely, though she did not really think Old Sergei good. He had some inconvenient foreign religion which inspired him to talk about God at missionary high-tea parties almost before the canned clam chowder was on the table, but he never came to church. тАЬHe did suffer for his championship of his dead friends, didnтАЩt he, for I suppose in the tussle he got a blow on the head which finally made him go blind.тБатАКтБатАжтАЭ + 

тАЬHis head was not in the least blowed,тАЭ said Anna in a high, rather exasperated voice. тАЬHe came home very happy, smacking his chest for pride, saying, тАШI have beaten these sacrilegious openers of heroesтАЩ gravesтБатАФI have beaten them wellтАЩтБатАКтБатАж and then some Russian man came and told us that the soldiers would come and beat him or perhaps put him in prison, for revenge. So my husband went away quickly, out of fear. Fortunately, it was good weatherтБатАФin wet weather he becomes stiff and painful in his sitting down and must not go out, but this time the weather was dry and the poor silly old man went forty li to the house of a Korean cow-grower who is his friend. When he was gone the Chinese soldiers come to our house and ask where he is. My Seryozha knows Chinese people wellтБатАФbetter than his father or I know themтБатАФand he can make Chinese laugh. So the soldiers laugh and go away. But in the night they come back, and they break the shutters and the door and took away all the tobacco and then the tins of vegetables and fruits, and the sweets and the cheap jewelry, but the bottles of hairwash and medicine and scent they broke after they had tasted. They took also eighty yen worth of cotton stuffs. The letter-paper they make dirty by treading on it, they spill the ink over the books, and the complexion oils they throw through the window. I would have beaten them myself. They were little soldiers and my hands are hardтБатАФI would rather use my hands to protect my properties than to protect dead menтБатАФbut Seryozha would not let me. All the time he stood in the shop door and pretended to say different ideas what to do next, and pretended to remind them of goods they were forgettingтБатАФbut really he tried, by talk, to pull their notice away from things more precious. He is a clever boy, Seryozha.тАЭ + 

тАЬBut it was very wrong of the soldiers,тАЭ said Mrs.┬аButters. тАЬSomebody ought to do something about it. Surely you can get them punished and claim some redress.тАЭ + 

тАЬWe are Russians,тАЭ said Anna with an unintentionally loud snort. She had her limbs, her larynx, her stomach, her imagination under poor control, and often found herself doing things that she had not intended. тАЬIn the morning Seryozha and I went to the magistrateтАЩs yamen and complained, but we only saw an under man, and he said he will inquire of the colonel and ask to have the soldiers punished, and he would send our askings for the price of our goods to Kirin to be thought about. But there will be little thinking, I think, and no paying. Especially since the Tao-yin who knew my husband, is now dead. The new Tao-yin knows nothing about our complaints. My husbandтАЩs nephew, Andrei Malinin, who is a friend of the new Tao-yin and builds bridges and trains horses and buys automobiles for him, said to us, тАШLet Dyadya come back now to his home; no one will hurt him now. But let him ask no more for compensations.тАЩ So my husband came back.тАЭ + 

тАЬBut I donтАЩt understand,тАЭ said Mrs.┬аButters, who was saving up all this to tell her husband in the evening, entitled, тАЬThe Truth of the Malinin Story.тАЭ тАЬWhat made Mr.┬аMalinin go blind so suddenly, if the soldiers did not hurt him?тАЭ + 

тАЬGod alone understands why he went blind,тАЭ said Anna. тАЬMy husband, poor old man, thinks he understands too, but all he says is folly. That same day he came home he began again his follies. I had a good dinner for him that dayтБатАФbortsch and a fine fat chickenтБатАФand when my husband saw, he said to Seryozha, тАШRun now and fetch Alyosha; he loves good food and has no money.тАЩ But that was a very strange thing, Mrs.┬аButters, for my husband does not often love poor menтБатАФwhile they live. Seryozha went to the house of Alexei Vassileievitch, and there he wasтБатАФthe saddlemaker, you remember?тБатАФmaking bets with all his friends that he could drink more beer more fastly than they could drink. Perhaps you remember hearingтБатАФit was a very hot day, and Alexei Vassileievitch fell down deadтБатАФтАЭ + 

тАЬI remember,тАЭ said Mrs.┬аButters, shuddering. тАЬSuch a terrible judgmentтБатАФa terrible deathтБатАФwith his sins upon him.тАЭ + 

тАЬOur sins are always upon us,тАЭ said Anna. тАЬThey are more tight buttoned upon us than our clothes. Whenever we dieтБатАФdrinking at the first supper or the Last SupperтБатАФour sins are always upon us, Mrs.┬аButters. I did not like Alyosha the saddlemaker; he bought a floor mat from us and would not pay because it had a small smell. I am not sorrowing because of his death but only because of the more trouble it brought upon us. Seryozha was a long time away, watching the drinking game, and at home my old husband would not eat, though the soup became coldтБатАФwaiting, waitingтБатАФfor a poor man he never thinks of feeding in his life before. So Seryozha comes running to say, тАШAlyosha is dead.тАЩ тАШSht boy,тАЩ I say, тАШshshtтБатАФhe will hear,тАЩ but my old husband has already heard. Oi, what folly begins at once. My husband runs to AlyoshaтАЩs house and I runs after himтБатАФthough the dinner would spoil and spoilтБатАФand there were Chinese policemen asking and examining in AlyoshaтАЩs house and Alyosha himself lying on the floor with his tongue out all crookedly and a bluely red swollen face. My old Sergei pushed away the police, saying, this man is of my race, he is mine to bury. Oi! what a curse are these drunkard dead that they must be made so honorable. Two friends helped to carry Alexei VassileievitchтАЩs body to our house; the Chinese police did not stop them, though they talked much, thinking perhaps Alyosha had been murdered, so they followed behind, talking angrily to my old fool, saying, тАШAlways you interfere with Chinese police officers doing their duties.тАЩтБатАКтБатАж My husband made Alyosha be carried in our house and all my nice dinner be swept off the table and the body be laid down on it, all red and dirty and dead, and no friend of ours, Mrs.┬аButtersтБатАФjust a drunken saddlemaker, God forgive him. I tell you he smelled of leather and horses, but he was on our table, like a joint of meat that was no meat, so all day we ate our meals on the bed, though the goodness of the dinner I had prepared was all gone. And in the evening my husband buried that poor damn man in the open green space behind our houseтБатАФafter dark, that thieves might not know. Because he had it fixed in his thoughts that the Chinese would again try to open the grave. So all night long he lay on a blanket outside, against the wall of our yard. Three timesтБатАФfour timesтБатАФfive timesтБатАФI went out and said, тАШCome in, stupid man; you will have rheumatism again; tomorrow you will not have power to bend,тАЩ but he is stubborn like a goat, and early in the morning, as the sun rose up, I heard him scream, high like a childтБатАФlike thisтБатАФтАШEтАСeтАСeтАСe! Oi! I am blind!тАЩтБатАКтБатАж It was when he felt the sun on his cheek, then he knew it was day and he was blind. He says it was the sparrowsтАЩ droppings from the top of the wall, but the Japanese doctor says no, it cannot be. The Japanese doctor says it is a nervousтБатАФa hysteric. I do not knowтБатАФbut sparrows I do not blame. So now my poor old fool he sits there all the time sorrowing. There is no amusement or interest he can doтБатАФonly feel with his hands things that are alive, and that makes him cry, but he always loves being made to cry. He was in love with dead men when he could seeтБатАФbut now that he must sit at home, the dead do not come to him.тБатАКтБатАж So now he cries over alive things that he can feelтБатАФit is all the same reallyтБатАФhe only seeks tears. He feels SeryozhaтАЩs ankle, and the cat, and puppies, and Seryozha found some little small young birds in a nestтБатАФanything that moves he must feel, that he may think the sad thoughts he wants to think.тАЭ + 

тАЬIt is all very sad,тАЭ said Mrs.┬аButters. тАЬIt must make life very difficult for you, Mrs.┬аMalinin.тАЭ + 

тАЬOh, not so difficult. Seryozha worksтБатАФnot every day, but sometimesтБатАФon the new bridge. Our nephew, Andrei MalininтБатАФthat engineer who I told you is friend to the new Tao-yinтБатАФhe helps us a little. I think he arranged, too, so that my old husband was not attacked by the Chinese policemen for taking AlyoshaтАЩs body. And I come and sewтБатАФoi! but how bad I sewтБатАФfor you and the other mission families.тАЭ + 

тАЬYou certainly have known a great deal of trouble,тАЭ said Mrs.┬аButters, who had been punctuating the story with clickings of her tongue and low abstracted moans. Then she remembered the Christian duty of reassurance. тАЬOh, but I think you sew very nicely.тАЭ + 

тАЬHemstitching all down the babyтАЩs ribsтБатАФoh yesтБатАФvery nice,тАЭ mourned Anna. The imperfection made a sore place in her self-esteem. тАЬHow easy it would have been to think beforeтБатАФnot to pull those threads out. Never, never do I think before. All my life is full of being sorry for not thinking before.тАЭ + 

тАЬOh, please donтАЩt worry yourself,тАЭ said Mrs.┬аButters, almost irritated by this extreme remorse. + 

One of the Butters children came in, talking in the aggrieved whine peculiar to the children of missionaries. + 

тАЬMah-mah!тАЭ + 

тАЬIt is so difficult for our finite minds to understand,тАЭ said Mrs.┬аButters, тАЬthe omnipotent wisdom which sometimes sees fitтБатАФтАЭ + 

тАЬMah-mah.тАЭ + 

тАЬтБатАФto load so many grievous burdens on oneтБатАФтАЭ + 

тАЬMah-mah.тАЭ + 

тАЬтБатАФshrinking sinnerтАЩs shoulders. All we can do isтБатАФтАЭ + 

тАЬMah-mah.тАЭ + 

тАЬтБатАФto feel that behind it all shinesтБатАФтАЭ + 

тАЬMah-mah.тАЭ + 

тАЬтБатАФa love thatтБатАФтАЭ + 

тАЬMah-mah.тАЭ + 

тАЬSurely your child wishes to speak with you,тАЭ said Anna, with difficulty restraining her hands from boxing the ears of both mother and child. A conflict of noises could always crack her temper as, it is said, some discords can crack a glass. + 

тАЬMah-mahтАЩs busy, lovey,тАЭ said Mrs.┬аButters. тАЬWhat does mah-mahтАЩs lovey want to ask mah-mah?тАЭ + 

тАЬMah-mahтБатАКтБатАж it wonтАЩt eat no ackles.тАЭ + 

тАЬWonтАЩt it, darling?тБатАКтБатАж And it seems to me, Mrs.┬аMalinin, that ifтБатАФтАЭ + 

тАЬBut, mah-mah.тАЭ + 

тАЬтБатАФwe could only learn to cast all our troubтБатАФтАЭ + 

тАЬMah-mah.тАЭ + 

тАЬтБатАФbles on that great heart that is so ready to bear them, we could turn and face the world with a perfectтБатАФтАЭ + 

тАЬMah-mah.тАЭ + 

тАЬYour child seems still to have some matter on its mind,тАЭ said Anna between ground teeth. + 

тАЬWhat is it, mah-mahтАЩs prettybird?тАЭ + 

тАЬMah-mah, it wonтАЩt eat no ackles.тАЭ + 

тАЬNo, darling, just fancy that!тБатАКтБатАж And another thing, Mrs.┬аMalininтБатАФтАЭ + 

тАЬBut, mah-mah.тАЭ + 

тАЬFor GodтАЩs sake, child,тАЭ said Anna, hoarsely, glaring at the child, тАЬwhat will not eat what?тАЭ + 

Mrs.┬аButters put a protective arm round her child and directed a reproachful glance toward Anna. тАЬThese foreigners,тАЭ she thought. тАЬEven quite nice foreignersтБатАКтБатАж so different.тБатАКтБатАжтАЭ + 

тАЬBetty is talking of the little kid,тАЭ she said gently. тАЬThe mother goatтБатАФwe call her NannieтБатАФdied yesterdayтБатАФdidnтАЩt she, loveybird? Mah-mahтАЩs loveybirdтАЩs poor Nannie doatie went to heaven, and we are wondering if we can rear the kid. It is so difficult to make it take the bottle.тАЭ + 

тАЬAnd what has your child been giving it?тАЭ + 

тАЬWhat has mah-mahтАЩs Bettybird been giving poor Nannie doatieтАЩs nitty tiddy to nyum-nyum?тАЭ + 

тАЬAckles, but it wonтАЩt eat no ackles, mah-mah.тАЭ + 

тАЬOh, she doesnтАЩt know any better, of course; sheтАЩs been trying to make the poor little creature eat apples. Ackles, she calls them.тБатАКтБатАжтАЭ + 

тАЬMah-mah, I opened the tiddieтАЩs moufie, and I pushed little bits of ackle down wiv my finger, andтБатАФтАЭ + 

тАЬFor GodтАЩs sake!тАЭ shouted Anna, springing to her feet and knocking down her chair. тАЬIs the child altogether without sense? Can it be possibleтБатАФтАЭ + 

тАЬOh, Mrs.┬аMalinin, sheтАЩs just a wee thingтБатАФonly six. How should she know?тАЭ + 

тАЬMrs.┬аButters, when I was five my mother and I used to bring up with our hands all the delicate lambs and calves. I could milk good long before that, and when I was seven I have helped my fatherтАЩs groom to accoucher my mare of a dead colt. All natureтАЩs ways were known by me as they should be by any child who lives in the country and is not blind or imbecileтБатАФтАЭ + 

тАЬMah-mahтАЩs own Bettylove must run away now,тАЭ said Mrs.┬аButters. тАЬAnd better not give nitty tiddy any more ackles just now, lovey.тАЭ + 

Mrs.┬аButters, free of BettyтАЩs innocent presence, breathed several deep forgiving breaths through her nose before overcoming her indignation at AnnaтАЩs vehemence and vulgarity. тАЬI had no idea you were such a farmer, dear Mrs.┬аMalinin,тАЭ she said, folding up her sewing as a sign of mild dismissal. There was only just a trace of reproachful emphasis on the word farmer. тАЬI believe I shall have to give you the little kid to rear. Evidently you know more about it than we do.тАЭ + 

Anna was crossing the room at the moment to fetch a reel of cotton from a drawer. And, although she was fifty-four years old, when she heard that the kid might be hers she leaped into the air and smacked the top of her head. The floor shook. тАЬOh, how I should enjoy that! How I should enjoy it! And my poor old man to have a kid to stroke and a kidтАЩs heart to feel beatingтБатАФmost joyfully I accept, Mrs.┬аButters, most joyfully.тБатАКтБатАжтАЭ + 