not crying about the tart, — that was no account, — but because they had not been fair to him. This was very disagreeable; and Darya Aleksandrovna, after a consultation with the English governess, decided to pardon Grisha, and went to get him. But then, as she went through the hall, she saw a scene which brought such joy to her heart, that the tears came to her eyes, and she herself forgave the culprit.
The little fellow was sitting in the drawing-room by the bay-window; near him stood Tania with a plate. Under the pretext of wanting some dessert for her dolls, she had asked the English governess to let her take her portion of the pie to the nursery; but, instead of this, she had taken it to her brother. Grisha, still sobbing over the unfairness of his punishment, was eating the pie, and saying to his sister in the midst of his tears, "Take some too .... we will eat to .... together."
Tania was full of sympathy for her brother, and had the sentiment of having performed a generous action, and the tears stood in her eyes, but she accepted the portion and was eating it.
When they saw their mother, they were scared, but they felt assured, by the expression of her face, that they were doing right; they both laughed, and, with their mouths still full of pie, they began to wipe their laughing lips with their hands, and their shining faces were stained with tears and jam.
"Ye saints! my new white gown! Tania! Grisha!" exclaimed the mother, endeavoring to save her gown, but at the same time smiling at them with a happy, beatific smile.
Afterwards the new frocks were taken off, and the girls put on their old blouses and the boys their old jackets; and the lineïka, or two-seated drozhky, was brought out, and again, to the overseer's annoyance, Buroï was at the pole, so that they might go out after mushrooms, and to have a bath. It is needless to say that enthusiastic shouts and squeals arose in the nursery, and did not cease until they actually got started for their excursion.
