The priest came, and, covering her face with something, and
sighing, began to read gentle, beseeching words:

"0h God, Almighty Lord, who cureth every disease, cure also Thy
servant Natalya, who has just given birth to a child; and restore
her from the bed on which she now lies, for in the words of David,
'We indulge in lawlessness and are wicked in Thine eyes."'

The old man's voice was interrupted now and then, his thin face
was stern and from his clothes came the odour of rock-rose.

"Guard the infant born of her, guard him from all possible
temptation, from all possible cruelty, from all possible storms,
from evil spirits, night and day."

Ignat listened to the prayer, and wept silently. His big, hot
tears fell on the bare hand of his wife. But the hand, evidently,
did not feel that the tears were dropping upon it: it remained
motionless, and the skin did not tremble from the fall of the
tears. After the prayer Natalya became unconscious and a day
later she died, without saying another word--she died just as
quietly as she had lived. Having arranged a pompous funeral,
Ignat christened his son, named him Foma, and unwillingly gave
his boy into the family of the godfather, his old friend Mayakin,
whose wife, too, had given birth to a child not long before. The
death of his wife had sown many gray hairs in Ignat's dark beard,
but in the stern glitter of his eyes appeared a new expression,
gentle, clear and mild.