The Schoolmaster and other stories - Penn State University

The Schoolmaster & other storieswith Sasha seemed now sweet but something far, faraway! She did not sleep all night, and in the morningsat at the window, listening. And she did in fact hearvoices below; Granny, greatly agitated, was asking questionsrapidly. Then some one began crying…. WhenNadya went downstairs Granny was standing in the corner,praying before the ikon and her face was tearful. Atelegram lay on the table.For some time Nadya walked up and down the room,listening to Granny’s weeping; then she picked up thetelegram and read it.It announced that the previous morning AlexandrTimofeitch, or more simply, Sasha, had died at Saratovof consumption.Granny and Nina Ivanovna went to the church to ordera memorial service, while Nadya went on walkingabout the rooms and thinking. She recognized clearlythat her life had been turned upside down as Sashawished; that here she was, alien, isolated, useless andthat everything here was useless to her; that all the pasthad been torn away from her and vanished as though ithad been burnt up and the ashes scattered to the winds.She went into Sasha’s room and stood there for a while.“Good-bye, dear Sasha,” she thought, and before hermind rose the vista of a new, wide, spacious life, andthat life, still obscure and full of mysteries, beckonedher and attracted her.She went upstairs to her own room to pack, and nextmorning said good-bye to her family, and full of life andhigh spirits left the town—as she supposed for ever.52