Elisaveta asked:

"How is one to kill a beast who has grown iron and steel nails, and
who has built his lair in the town? It is he who does the killing, and
there's no end in sight to his ferocity."

Nadezhda knitted her eyebrows, pressed her hands, and stubbornly
repeated:

"We shall kill him, we shall kill him."




CHAPTER II


The sisters stayed to lunch.

They remained over an hour chattering cheerfully with the children and
their instructresses. The children were sweet and confiding. The
instructresses, no less simple and charming, seemed cheerful,
care-free, and restful. Yet they were always busy, and nothing escaped
them. Besides many of the children did certain things without being
urged, this being evidently a part of a system, of which the sisters
had as yet barely an inkling.

Instruction was mixed up with play. One of the instructresses invited
the sisters to listen to what she called her lesson. The sisters