"Are these really our people? Is this really our country? I heard their song; they speak Russian."
"Yes, you see not far from here is a river—it is the Oka; these people belong to us; for when I am with you I am a Russian!"
"Did you bring about all this?"
"All this was done for my sake, and I gave the inspiration for the accomplishment of it; I inspired the completion of it, but she, my older sister, is doing this. She is a worker, but I only enjoy the fruits of her work."
"And will all people live this way?"
"Yes," replied the elder sister. "For all an everlasting spring and summer, an everlasting joy! But we have shown you only the end of my half-day—the work and the beginning of their indoor life; now we see them in the evening, a little later."
9.
"The flowers have wilted, and the leaves begin to fall from the trees; the picture grows gloomy; it would be too melancholy to look upon; here it would be gloomy to live," says the elder sister. "I do not like it. The halls are deserted; there is no one in the fields," says the elder sister. "I have arranged this according to my sister, the tsaritsa's desire."
"Is the palace really deserted?"
"Yes, it is cold and damp here. Here, out of two thousand people, only ten or twenty of those originals for whom it seemed a pleasant variety to remain here for the present, in this solitude, in seclusion, to look at the northern autumn. After some time during the winter there will be constant change: small parties will come—lovers of winter sports—to spend several days here in winter fashion."
"But where are they now?"
"Everywhere that is warm and comfortable," says the elder sister. "In summer when there is much work here and it is pleasant, many different guests come here from the south; we were in the house when the whole company consisted of guests like you; but a good many houses are built for the guests in other places; and the guests belonging to different nations and the housekeepers live together, each one selecting the company which best pleases him. But while taking a good many guests in summer as helpers in
