umns... the trees cloaked in a silver mantle, their boughs drooping, bearing grains of frost; the sky teems with stars winking at one another in glad delight, and the Milky Way stands out plain and clear, as if it had been washed on the eve of the feast and scrubbed with snow!...
Vanka took a small breath, and went on writing his letter to his grandfather:
"Yesterday my master dragged me by the hair into the yard and rained blows on me with the strap, because I was rocking his baby and inadvertently dozed off. And last Sunday it happened that my mistress told me to clean a fish for her; I began cleaning it from the tail, so she flew into a rage at me, snatched it from my hand, and thrust its head into my mouth...
"My food in this house consists of bread in the morning, burghul at noon, and bread in the evening; of tea and soup I know no taste. As for my sleep, it is in the passage, where I lie exposed to the piercing cold.
"And I tell you, grandfather, that my master's journeymen mock me, and send me to the quarter to fetch them vodka, and ask me to steal cucumbers for them from my master's house; and he beats me with anything that falls into his hand, for the least slip I make.
"O my dear grandfather... have mercy on me, for God's sake, and take me from this house to you, for I have no way at all of escape. Take me from this place; I kiss your feet and pray for you always; and if you do not, then I shall surely perish."
Vanka twisted his mouth, wiped his eyes with his dirty fist, choked with weeping, then went on writing:
"And I will rub your tobacco for you, grandfather, and seek your good pleasure; and if I go against your word in anything, then beat me. And if it appears to you that I shall find no work with you, then give me leave to polish the boots of the village contractor, or to tend the goats in Fedka's place.
"Yes, my dear grandfather! I have no rescuer but you. I tried once to run away to your village, but I gave it up, because I own no boots to shield me from the frost... Take me, grandfather, and be assured that when I come of age I will repay your kindness in kind; I will work to keep you, and let no one do you wrong; and if God takes you, I shall pray for your soul as I pray for my mother's soul.
"Moscow is a big city; its houses are grand and its horses many, but I find no sheep in it, and its dogs are not vicious; its children do not go about the quarters on the nights of the feasts, and they are not allowed to join in the church chants.
"Once I saw in a shop window fishhooks with their rods, with which a man could catch any fish whatever, even one weighing a ratl. And I saw in some stores weapons of various shapes, wonderfully made and beautiful to look upon — God knows how many hundreds of rubles they are worth... And I saw in some butchers' shops great numbers of partridge, and hares, and woodland fowl; and the strange thing is that people never once ask about the shooting of these birds!
"My dear grandfather. I beg you to remember me when the masters set up the Christmas tree, and pick me a gilded walnut from it, and keep it in the green box. Mrs. Olga Ignatyevna will not gainsay you if she knows the