登陆注册
15685500000011

第11章

"I respectfully thank you," I said, and then fell to wondering what all the monks (who at that moment began to come filing out of the church) must be thinking of me as they glanced in my direction.I was neither a grown-up nor a child, while my face was unwashed, my hair unbrushed, my clothes tumbled, and my boots unblacked and muddy.To what class of persons were the brethren assigning me--for they stared at me hard enough? Nevertheless I proceeded in the direction which the young priest had pointed out to me.

An old man with bushy grey eyebrows and a black cassock met me on the narrow path to the cells, and asked me what I wanted.For a brief moment I felt inclined to say "Nothing," and then run back to the drozhki and drive away home; but, for all its beetling brows, the face of the old man inspired confidence, and I merely said that I wished to see the priest (whom I named).

"Very well, young sir; I will take you to him," said the old man as he turned round.Clearly he had guessed my errand at a stroke.

"The father is at matins at this moment, but he will soon be back," and, opening a door, the old man led me through a neat hall and corridor, all lined with clean matting, to a cell.

"Please to wait here," he added, and then, with a kind, reassuring glance, departed.

The little room in which I found myself was of the smallest possible dimensions, but extremely neat and clean.Its furniture only consisted of a small table (covered with a cloth, and placed between two equally small casement-windows, in which stood two pots of geraniums), a stand of ikons, with a lamp suspended in front of them, a bench, and two chairs.In one corner hung a wall clock, with little flowers painted on its dial, and brass weights to its chains, while upon two nails driven into a screen (which, fastened to the ceiling with whitewashed pegs, probably concealed the bed) hung a couple of cassocks.The windows looked out upon a whitewashed wall, about two arshins distant, and in the space between them there grew a small lilac-bush.

Not a sound penetrated from without, and in the stillness the measured, friendly stroke of the clock's pendulum seemed to beat quite loudly.The instant that I found myself alone in this calm retreat all other thoughts and recollections left my head as completely as though they had never been there, and I subsided into an inexpressibly pleasing kind of torpor.The rusty alpaca cassocks with their frayed linings, the worn black leather bindings of the books with their metal clasps, the dull-green plants with their carefully watered leaves and soil, and, above all, the abrupt, regular beat of the pendulum, all spoke to me intimately of some new life hitherto unknown to me--a life of unity and prayer, of calm, restful happiness.

"The months, the years, may pass," I thought to myself, "but he remains alone--always at peace, always knowing that his conscience is pure before God, that his prayer will be heard by Him." For fully half an hour I sat on that chair, trying not to move, not even to breathe loudly, for fear I should mar the harmony of the sounds which were telling me so much, and ever the pendulum continued to beat the same--now a little louder to the right, now a little softer to the left.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 落棋不言悔

    落棋不言悔

    本是娇俏的单纯小美女蒋涵,风华正茂,在本校结识初恋男友,双双头顶名校硕士头衔毕业,进入名企就职。原本开始的幸福生活,骤然被打破,究竟为何?小美女能否在职场中历练有成?又能否重新开始人生的华彩乐章?是真心,抑或还是假意?看蒋涵在风起云涌里如何应对,跌倒,流泪,不言悔,终能收获满堂彩!
  • 清——天朝上国的盛世繁华

    清——天朝上国的盛世繁华

    本书共分四章,内容包括:兴起于白山黑水之间、空前统一的多民族国家、最后的盛世繁华、盛世之中的隐患与危机等。
  • 赤眸凤后:凤舞苍穹

    赤眸凤后:凤舞苍穹

    她,因一双血眸,被现代人判为妖孽。她,三年苦修,成为现代凤伐宫宫主,一手遮天。她,为摆脱妖孽身份,穿越到了一个为止的大陆——苍穹大陆。在那个未知的大陆,她是否仍然可以一手遮天?什么?“凤女一出,天下大乱”。这个天机子也太看得起她了吧?不过,她是不是该应一下他的话啊,以报答他的“赏识”?反正几年之后,她拍拍屁股就走人了,管它乱不乱?于是乎,苍穹大陆开始乱了。。。
  • 枫落无生

    枫落无生

    人生是一场漫长的旅行,或许幸福,或许悲伤。走过一座座城池,阅过一幕幕风花雪月,阴晴圆缺。在时光的沉淀中随风摇曳,那些放不下的终将会在某一天,在原地等你。
  • 丞相夫君太妖孽

    丞相夫君太妖孽

    原本是有爹有娘有人疼的21世纪努力向上女青年。由于一块血莲古玉,一朝穿越,成了爹不疼娘不爱,家族饱受冷落受人欺辱的胖蠢胖蠢的三小姐……幸好女主光环够强,手腕够硬。说我胖,我就瘦给你看。说我蠢,那咱来比比?可……不小心勾搭上的那个妖孽丞相,我要拿你怎么办?
  • 他的身体里住着一个天使

    他的身体里住着一个天使

    她是我的命,不管她在世人眼中是什么,在我眼中她只是我的爱人!我要守护她一生!他是我的寄生体,他是我的爱人,我一生中的唯一!别人伤他一寸,我要让他痛不欲生,此生后悔来到这个世界!
  • 三代才女绝恋

    三代才女绝恋

    一场答联求亲,让他们喜结良缘;宫廷祸乱,让他们分离两地、重聚无期;乱世当道,让她三嫁他夫,抛弃亲生骨肉……看三个女人如何演绎他们的爱恨离别。
  • 好妈妈要掌握的心理学:谁的孩子将会一鸣惊人

    好妈妈要掌握的心理学:谁的孩子将会一鸣惊人

    本书介绍了在孩子成长的过程中,心理发育和生理成长同等重要,具体体现在读懂孩子的兴趣、培养孩子的兴趣有方法、给孩子插上新的翅膀、从触动心灵到争取主动等。
  • 拽公主的霸道帅王子

    拽公主的霸道帅王子

    他们同是上天创造出完美尤物,智商无人能比,确在情商上是笨蛋,他,司徒家的大少爷,冷酷帅气;她,南宫家的小姐,绝美顽皮,他们之间本不相交的平行线,却因为一纸婚约相识相爱,他们结果如何,请大家来看,支持我。
  • 暹罗恋简单爱着你

    暹罗恋简单爱着你

    她,一个两耳不闻窗外事,一心只读圣贤书的乖乖女。本以为自己会有一个平淡的青春,却不想,那个他闯进了她的生活,一切都变了,父亲意外去世,仇家接踵而至,使得她措手不及,命运之轮悄然转动,她将何去何从?他,一标准的纨绔子弟,女人堆中走,却从未谈过恋爱,知道遇见那个清澈如水的女孩,他不禁怦然心动,展开了一系列追妻计划,他能否抱得美人归?