I

Natalia, the dairy sister of the narrator’s father, lived for eight years in their Lunevo estate as a native, although she was born a serf. The narrator was always struck by Natalya’s affection for her homeland - the steppe estate Sukhodol, the ancestral nest of the Khrushchev’s pillar nobles, where she was a simple courtyard. Having grown up the narrator and his sister, Natalya returned to Sukhodol.

Brother and sister grew up on stories about Sukhodol, about strange and wild customs that reigned there. Soon the estate became for them a legendary and mysterious place.

And tradition and song are poison for the Slavic soul!

Natalia was orphaned early. Her father was sent to the army as a soldier, and her mother, who was a bird house, died of fear of the gentlemen when all the turkeys were killed by hail. The storyteller, to whom Natalya was native, was amazed that the “good gentlemen” - his grandfather and grandmother - had killed her parents.

Then the narrator learned a lot about the dark and gloomy Sukhodol house, about his “hot” masters — the crazy case of Pyotr Kirillovich and the crazy aunt Tone — and about the rest of the Khrushchevs who sat down to dinner with lashes-arapniks in their hands in case of a quarrel.

All the landlords were “ardent followers” ​​of the estate. Aunt Tonya flatly refused to leave the old house built by her grandfather, although she lived there in terrible poverty. Even the storyteller's father Arkady Petrovich, a carefree man, was sad about Sukhodol until his death.

The life of a family, clan, clan is deep, knotty, mysterious, often scary. But her dark depth and still traditions, the past and she is strong.

And the younger members of the family were drawn to Sukhodol. But during the childhood of the narrator, between Sukhodol and Lunev there was a major quarrel, because of which the relationship between the estates almost ceased.

II

The younger Khrushchev came to Sukhodol only "in their late adolescence." They were met by an old woman, similar to Baba Yaga, in rags, with black crazy eyes and a sharp nose, who turned out to be Aunt Tonya. Then the narrator met the widow of his uncle Pyotr Petrovich, the small, gray-haired and institutionally enthusiastic Claudia Markovna.

The house, on the porch of which the young Khrushchevs met Natalya, was built from the remains of an old, grandfather, burned down a long time ago.

Everything was black from time to time, simply, rudely in these empty, low rooms, preserving the same arrangement as with grandfather.

The house was furnished with remnants of antique furniture. A large image of St. Mercury of Smolensky has also survived, on the back of which the genealogy of the Khrushchev family was placed. Around the house was an old and neglected garden.

III

The brother and sister immediately felt the charm with which the ruined Sukhodol manor breathed. In the parlor that smelled of jasmine, Aunt Tony was still standing on the piano, on which she had once played Officer Voitkovich, Comrade Pyotr Petrovich. Before leaving, he slammed the piano cover in his hearts with his palm and crushed the butterfly. “Only silver dust” remained from the insect, but when the yard girl foolishly erased it, “a hysteria” became with Aunt Tonya.

Young Khrushchev wandered around the house and garden and recognized the places that Natalya had told them about in childhood. Having walked, late at night they returned to the house and often forced Natalia “in prayer before the image of Mercury”.

She stood in front of him, whispering something, baptizing herself, bowing low to him, invisible in the dark, and all this is as simple as she was talking with someone close, also simple, kind, merciful.

After praying, Natalia began to tell in a “leisurely whisper” ...

IV

According to legend, the narrator’s great-grandfather moved to Sukhodol from near Kursk. The estate was then surrounded by dense forests.From generation to generation, forests were cut down, and the area around Sukhodol gradually became a steppe.

Great-grandfather Pyotr Kirillich went crazy and died at 45. The narrator’s father said that his great-grandfather was crazy when the wind “brought down a whole rain of apples” upon him, sleeping under an apple tree. The courtyard was sure that Pyotr Kirillich moved “from love longing” after the death of his beautiful wife.

And Pyotr Kirillich lived, a stooped brunette, with black, attentively affectionate eyes, a bit like Aunt Tonya, in a quiet insanity.

The whole day he went inaudibly around the house and hid gold coins in the crevices of wooden walls - for the dowry of Tonechka.

Pyotr Kirillich was afraid of a thunderstorm and sometimes began to rearrange furniture in the living room - he was waiting for guests who very rarely came to Sukhodol. The estate was more fun when the French, teachers Tony and Arkady lived there. When the children were taken to study in the provincial city, the French stayed for the sake of Pyotr Kirillich and lived in dry land for eight years.

The French left when the children returned home for their third vacation and stayed in Sukhodol forever - Peter Kirillich decided that only his son Peter would receive education. Children "were left without learning, and without a prize." The narrator's father at that time made close friends with the courtyard Gevraska, who was considered the illegitimate son of Pyotr Kirillich. Gevraska was a “korostovy ... master of hard labor”, often humiliating Arkady and getting him into trouble, but he still loved his twin.

The house, which the decrepit nurse of grandfather tried to keep an eye on, gradually lost his residential appearance and was in the grip of a carefree mongrel. Children disappeared for days somewhere and only came home to spend the night.

V

Soon Pyotr Petrovich, unexpectedly retired, returned to Sukhodol, brought a friend of Voitkevich with him and turned the life of the estate into a celebratory and lordly manner. He wanted to show himself generous and rich, but he did it ineptly, in a boyish way.

Outwardly, Petr Petrovich also looked like a handsome, ruddy boy with delicate dark skin and small hands and feet. By nature, he was sharp and cruel, capable of holding a grudge for a long time. But even he did not dare to touch the impudent lackey Gevraska, although he constantly offended his grandfather.

Tonya fell in love with Voitkevich. Natalya immediately fell in love with the handsome Peter Petrovich.

Her happiness was unusually brief - and who would have thought that it would be allowed to travel to Soshki, the most remarkable event of her whole life?

Once Natalya saw among the things of Petr Petrovich a silver mirror and was fascinated by the beauty of the little thing, and the fact that it belonged to a young owner. The girl stole a mirror, hid it in an abandoned bathhouse and lived for several days, “stunned by its crime”. Several times a day, Natalia ran into the bathhouse to admire her treasure. She looked in the mirror with insane hope like Peter Petrovich.

It all ended in shame and shame. The barin himself discovered Natashkino’s crime, turning it into a regular theft, ordered her to be cut off with sheep’s hair and sent to Soshki, a distant steppe farm. This farm was run by an old Khokhlushka woman, whom Natalya was afraid of in advance.

On the way, Natalia first wanted to strangle herself, then run away, but didn’t do either, and took her love to the wilderness, overcame her first torment and kept it until her death in her sukhodol soul.

VI

In the same year, Pyotr Petrovich called to the Intercession to the estate of all noble people in the district. Gradually, from an officer he turned into a young landowner and took control of Sukhodol in his own hands. Arkady Petrovich was inferior to his brother in everything and spent most of his time outside the house.

The grandfather was most pleased with the guests. He imagined himself a welcoming host, scared terribly, was “tactless, talkative and miserable” and terribly disturbed his son. Grandfather reported to all guests that Tonechka was unwell and left for Lunevo.

The whole district had long been aware that Voitikovich had serious intentions with respect to Tone.But with every attempt to express her feelings, the girl “flashed frantically,” and Voitkovich suddenly left without making an offer. After his departure, Tonya “fell ill with longing”, did not sleep at night and fell into wild tantrums. Pyotr Petrovich was afraid that the neighbors would explain the sister’s malaise by pregnancy, and sent her to Lunevo.

Worried Khrushchev and Gevraska, who grew up greatly and became the most intelligent of the yard. The servants were afraid of this healthy, similar to the ancient Aryan guy and nicknamed him "greyhound".

Gentlemen were also afraid of him. The gentlemen had the same character as the lackeys: either to rule, or to be afraid.

Feeling his strength, Gevraska acted cheekily and rudely, he was especially cruel with his grandfather.

Before the guests, Pyotr Petrovich praised Gevraska, which overfilled the cup of grandfather's patience. The old man began to complain to the guests about the servant, who humiliates him at every step, but then generously forgave him. Out of fear of Gevraska, the old man persuaded the guests to stay overnight.

Grandfather did not sleep all night, and early in the morning went to the drawing room and began to "move, place the heavy furniture growling on the floor." Gavraska appeared asleep, “angry as hell” to the noise and shouted at the old man. Busting over his fear, he tried to resist the arrogant lackey, and then Gevraska, to whom his grandfather "was tired of the worst of autumn", "hit him on the chest with a swing". The old man fell, hit his temple on the sharp corner of the ombre table and died.

Gevraska tore off his wedding ring, a golden little picture and an amulet from his still warm body, and "sank into the water." After that, only Natalia saw him.

VII

While Natalya lived in Soshki, Pyotr Petrovich married, and then, together with his brother Arkady, left as a volunteer for the Crimean War. Gevraska appeared in Soshki and said that "he came from the gentlemen in a big case." A runaway footman was fed, and then he told Natalya that he had killed his grandfather, threatened to kill her if he told anyone, and left by evening.

They forgot about Natalia, and she returned to Sukhodol only two years later. The pregnant Clavdia Markovna, who ruled Sukhodol, put Natalia to a half-mad Tone. The young lady was often seized with sudden bouts of rage, but Natalya quickly learned to dodge the objects flying into her.

Soon Natalya learned that this young lady remembered her, waiting for her “like white light”, hoping that after her arrival she would feel better, but this did not happen. The young lady and the doctor who treated her with pills and drops did not help.

Natalya shied away from her former friends and missed the Ukrainians who ruled Soshki, their bleached house decorated with colorful towels. Shary and Marina were "even in circulation, not at all curious and not talkative."

And alone, Natasha slowly drank the first, bittersweet poison of unrequited love.

It was in Soshki that Natalya saw two dreams that predicted her fate. In the first dream, a big-headed and red-haired dwarf man in a red shirt shouted to her that there would be a fire and strictly forbade her to marry. And in the second dream, a huge gray goat with burning eyes, who called herself her groom, indecently molested Natalia. After thinking about her dreams, Natalya decided “that her girl years are over ... her fate has already been decided”, and, returning to Sukhodol, she took on the role of a humble prayer-seeker.

VIII

Returning to Sukhodol, Natalya again recognized her native places, her peers matured, and she could not believe that the grandfather of Pyotr Kirillitch was no longer there, and the young lady Tonechka turned into a black, thin, wry-nosed woman, now indifferent, sometimes mad.

It seemed that everything old that surrounded her was younger, as always happens in houses after a dead person.

Natalya harbored all feelings and was tormented by a foreboding of imminent troubles.

Soon the mistress Claudia Markovna gave birth to a boy - the new Khrushchev, and the bird house, according to the Sukhodol tradition, became a nanny. Natalya also considered herself Tony's nanny.

In the spring, the famous sorcerer, a rich and noble peasant, was brought to the young lady. Three times he conjured over her at dawn, but he eased Tony’s mental illness only for a short while.Because of the anguish and fear of fires, the young lady could not even think about Peter Petrovich, who was wounded in the Crimean War.

A sultry summer came with constant thunderstorms and vague rumors of a new war, riots and the will that will be given to all men. Sukhodol was filled with holy fools and pilgrims, whom Tonya received and fed contrary to the orders of Claudia Markovna. Once upon a time, a certain Yushka also appeared on the estate, calling himself "a guilty monk."

IX

Yushka was a man, but he didn’t work a day in his life, he lived “as God sends”, paying for bread with stories about his “wrongdoing”. Due to rickety folding, Yushka’s shoulders were always raised, and he looked like a hunchback. He took advantage of this - he entered the Kiev Lavra as a monk, from where he was soon kicked out.

It turned out to be unprofitable to pretend to be a wanderer in holy places, and Yushka, without taking off his cassock, began to openly scoff at the laurel, telling why he had been expelled from there “by means of obscene gestures and body movements”.

Russia received him, a shameless sinner, with no less cordiality than saving souls: fed, watered, allowed to sleep, listened with enthusiasm to him.

Yushka never got drunk, so he smoked and drank as much as he wanted, and was incredibly lustful. Appearing in Sukhodol, he immediately laid eyes on Natalia. He struck the young woman with his bluntness and soon became his own man in the house, while Natalya Yushka was “nasty ... and scary,” but “the knowledge that something inevitable was happening” deprived her of strength and prevented Yushkina’s lust from resisting.

Natalia slept alone in the hallway in front of Tony’s bedroom. One night, Yushka came to her as "the same goat that comes in at night to women and girls." Everyone on the estate knew that the same “serpent and hell” was coming to the young lady, which made her moan so terribly at night. Natalia believed that she was destined to die with the young lady.

Yushka went to Natalia for many nights in a row, and she surrendered to him, "losing consciousness from horror and disgust." Finally, Yushka got bored, and he suddenly disappeared from Sukhodol, and a month later Natalia realized that she was pregnant.

In September, young gentlemen returned from the war, and the next night, Natalya’s second dream came true - a sukhodol house lit up from ball lightning. Then Natalia caught a glimpse of a man dressed in a red zhupan in the garden, and was so frightened that she lost her child.

After that, Natalia grew old, faded, her life forever "entered the everyday rut." The young lady was taken "to the relics of a saint", and she also calmed down, began to live like everyone else. Her madness was manifested only "in extreme sloppiness, in frantic irritability and longing in bad weather." Natalia was also at the relics, returned from there with a “humble blueberry” and without trepidation “went up to the hand of Pyotr Petrovich”.

Rumors of a will have changed life in Sukhodol.

It’s easy to say - start a new life! The masters had to live in a new way, but they did not know how in the old way.

In the Khrushchev family, "disagreements" began, and the case came to the Tatar lashes. To fix the economy, exhausted by the Crimean War, the brothers mortgaged the estate and bought a herd of seedy horses from some gypsy, hoping to feed them over the winter and sell them, but all the horses died. From this relationship between the brothers completely deteriorated.

Soon Peter Petrovich died. In winter, he returned to Sukhodol from a neighboring farmstead, from his mistress, lay on a drunken sleigh, and a draft horse running behind him smashed his head with a hoof. Natalia fell to meet and mourn the still beloved master.

X

Every time the young Khrushchev came to rest in Sukhodol, Natalya told them "the story of her lost life." The things and letters left from the ancestors have long disappeared or perished in the fire. The house was dilapidated, "and its past became more legendary."

The son of Peter Petrovich, sold all the arable land, left Sukhodol and "entered the conductor on the railway." Claudia Markovna, Tonya and Natalya lived and lived poorly and poorly on the estate.

Young Khrushchev forgot the history of their ancient family, and could no longer even find the graves of their closest ancestors - grandfathers, grandmothers, Pyotr Petrovich.

Only on the graveyards do you feel that it was so; you feel even a terrible closeness to them. But for this you need to make an effort, sit, think about your own grave - if you only find it.

The times from the stories of Natalia seemed infinitely distant to brother and sister. They only knew that both the old churchyard and the surroundings of Sukhodol were then the same as now.