"It was the same thing at our lady's," he said, pulling his cap on further."We were serfs in those days; the younger son of our mistress, the General's lady, shot himself through the mouth with a pistol, from too much learning, too.It seems that by law such have to be buried outside the cemetery, without priests, without a requiem service; but to save disgrace our lady, you know, bribed the police and the doctors, and they gave her a paper to say her son had done it when delirious, not knowing what he was doing.You can do anything with money.So he had a funeral with priests and every honor, the music played, and he was buried in the church; for the deceased General had built that church with his own money, and all his family were buried there.Only this is what happened, friends.One month passed, and then another, and it was all right.In the third month they informed the General's lady that the watchmen had come from that same church.
What did they want? They were brought to her, they fell at her feet.'We can't go on serving, your excellency,' they said.'Look out for other watchmen and graciously dismiss us.' 'What for?'
'No,' they said, 'we can't possibly; your son howls under the church all night.' "Alyoshka shuddered, and pressed his face to the coachman's back so as not to see the windows.
"At first the General's lady would not listen," continued the old man."'All this is your fancy, you simple folk have such notions,' she said.'A dead man cannot howl.' Some time afterwards the watchmen came to her again, and with them the sacristan.So the sacristan, too, had heard him howling.The General's lady saw that it was a bad job; she locked herself in her bedroom with the watchmen.'Here, my friends, here are twenty-five roubles for you, and for that go by night in secret, so that no one should hear or see you, dig up my unhappy son, and bury him,' she said, 'outside the cemetery.' And I suppose she stood them a glass...And the watchmen did so.The stone with the inscription on it is there to this day, but he himself, the General's son, is outside the cemetery....O Lord, forgive us our transgressions!" sighed the fish-hawker."There is only one day in the year when one may pray for such people: the Saturday before Trinity....You mustn't give alms to beggars for their sake, it is a sin, but you may feed the birds for the rest of their souls.The General's lady used to go out to the crossroads every three days to feed the birds.Once at the cross-roads a black dog suddenly appeared; it ran up to the bread, and was such a...we all know what that dog was.The General's lady was like a half-crazy creature for five days afterwards, she neither ate nor drank....All at once she fell on her knees in the garden, and prayed and prayed..
..Well, good-by, friends, the blessing of God and the Heavenly Mother be with you.Let us go, Mihailo, you'll open the gate for me."The fish-hawker and the porter went out.The coachman and Alyoshka went out too, so as not to be left in the coach-house.
"The man was living and is dead!" said the coachman, looking towards the windows where shadows were still flitting to and fro.
"Only this morning he was walking about the yard, and now he is lying dead.""The time will come and we shall die too," said the porter, walking away with the fish -hawker, and at once they both vanished from sight in the darkness.
