Once upon a time long ago she had been housemaid to my
great-grandmother, Countess Pelageya Nikolayevna
Tolstoy, my father's grandmother, nee Princess
Gortchakova. She was fond of telling about her young
days. She would say:


I was very handsome. When there were gentlefolks visiting
at the big house, the countess would call me, 'Gachette
[Agafya], femme de chambre, apportez-moi un mouchoir!'
Then I would say, 'Toute suite, Madame la Comtesse!' And
every one would be staring at me, and couldn't take their eyes
off. When I crossed over to the annex, there they were watching
to catch me on the way. Many a time have I tricked them--ran
round the other way and jumped over the ditch. I never liked
that sort of thing any time. A maid I was, a maid I am.


After my grandmother's death, Agafya
Mikhailovna was sent on to the home farm for some reason
or other, and minded the sheep. She got so fond of sheep that
all her days after she never would touch mutton.

After the sheep, she had an affection for dogs, and that is
the only period of her life that I remember her in.

There was nothing in the world she cared about but dogs.
She lived with them in horrible dirt and smells, and gave up her
whole mind and soul to them. We always had setters, harriers,
and borzois, and the whole kennel, often very numerous,