He was like you; he was a great barin, a
great noble, and yet he helped the peasants."
Paul turned round sharply and shook the man off.
"Go," he said, "with the starosta and get what I tell you. A great,
strong fellow like you has no business on his knees to any man! I will
not help you unless you help yourself. You are a lazy good-for-nothing.
Get out!"
He pushed him out of the hut, and kicked after him a few rags of
clothing which were lying about on the floor, all filthy and slimy.
"Good God!" muttered he under his breath, in English, "that a place like
this should exist beneath the very walls of Osterno!"
From hut to hut he went all through that night on his mission of
mercy--without enthusiasm, without high-flown notions respecting
mankind, but with the simple sense of duty that was his. These people
were his things--his dumb and driven beasts. In his heart there may have
existed a grudge against the Almighty for placing him in a position
which was not only intensely disagreeable, but also somewhat ridiculous.
For he did not dare to tell his friends of these things. He had spoken
of them to no man except Karl Steinmetz, who was in a sense his
dependent. English public school and university had instilled into him
the intensely British feeling of shame respecting good works. He could
take chaff as well as any man, for he was grave by habit, and a grave
man receives the most chaff most good-humoredly.
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