Library

"Hey, listen," said the wife, "I'm scared!" It was a moonlit night in winter. On our way back to Petersburg from the south, we stayed overnight at the manor in our hometown in Tambov Province. We slept in the children's room of the big house in our former residence, which was the only warm room. I opened my eyes, and with the help of a pale blue light that seemed to be covered with a veil in the darkness, I saw the shag carpet on the floor and the old kang stove. Through the square windows, one can see the bright, snowy courtyard. The thatched roof is covered with a layer of snow, and the matted thatch on the roof is reflected in the window like bristle. There is absolutely no sound here, the kind of silence that only exists in the fields on winter nights.