The mother made stockings, and herself put them on the little feet.

Natasha laughed at first; but suddenly grew silent and thoughtful, and said in a low voice to the mother: "I had a nurse who was also ever so kind.

How strange, Pelagueya Nilovna! The workingmen live such a hard, outraged life, and yet there is more heart, more goodness in them than in--those!" And she waved her hand, pointing somewhere far, very far from herself.
"See what sort of a person you are," the older woman answered.

"You have left your own family and everything--" She was unable to finish her thought, and heaving a sigh looked silently into Natasha's face with a feeling of gratitude to the girl for she knew not what.

She sat on the floor before Natasha, who smiled and fell to musing.
"I have abandoned my family ?" she repeated, bending her head down.
"That's nothing.