“The postal troika stood at the gate; the suitcase was taken out; I began to say goodbye and thought, having kissed everyone, get on the cart and go, but I had to pay tribute to antiquity. They sat me down, my mother and sisters sat down, the boy who was traveling with me was also seated, even the maid, who ran in to say that the cabbie was in a hurry, fell to the same fate: “Sit down,” my mother said commandingly to her; the girl looked around, looked at her mother, as if wanting to express that she was ashamed to sit with the masters, but at the new order she sat down on the floor, satisfying at the same time both the master’s order and the slavish intelligibility. Pious silence continued for several minutes, then everyone stood up and, turning to the front corner, prayed to the crucifix hanging there...”