‘The peasants are ruined? They have no bread?’ she asked.
‘They are dying of hunger,’ said Dron. ‘No use talking about horses and carts.’
‘But why didn’t you say, Dronushka? Can’t someone help them? I’ll do whatever I can . . .’ It seemed curious to Princess Marya that at a moment like this, when her heart was full of grief, there could be such a thing as rich and poor, and the rich weren’t helping the poor. She had a vague recollection of hearing about a special store, ‘the master’s grain’, that was sometimes given out to the peasants. She also knew that neither her brother nor her father would refuse the peasants in their hour of need; she was just a little worried about not saying quite the right thing about distributing this grain. She was pleased to have an excuse for getting involved in something for which she could forget her own grief with a clear conscience. She wanted Dronushka to tell her all about the peasants’ needs, and whether there was any of ‘the master’s grain’ at Bogucharovo.
‘By the way, does my brother have any of that “master’s grain” here?’ she asked.
‘Yes. It’s not been touched,’ Dron declared with no little pride. ‘The prince didn’t give me no orders about selling it.’
‘Give it to the peasants. Give them all they need. You have my brother’s permission,’ said Princess Marya.
Dron heaved a deep sigh but said nothing.
‘Go and distribute that grain, if there’s enough to go round. Give it all away. You have my brother’s permission, and tell them – what’s ours is theirs. We begrudge them nothing. Tell them from me.’
Dron watched the princess closely all the while she was speaking. ‘Let me go, ma’am, for God’s sake. Please have my keys taken away,’ said he. ‘I have served these twenty-three years, and never done anything wrong. Let me go, for God’s sake.’
Princess Marya could not make head or tail of what he wanted and why he was asking to be let go. She told him she had never doubted his loyalty, and she was ready to do anything for him and the peasants.
CHAPTER 11
An hour later Dunyasha came in and told the princess that Dron had come back, and all the peasants were gathered together outside the barn just as the princess had ordered, and they wanted to hold some discussions with the mistress.
‘But I never sent for them,’ said Princess Marya. ‘I only told Dronushka to give them the grain.’
‘Oh, please, ma’am . . . in God’s name, Princess, have them sent away and don’t go out to see them. It’s a trick,’ said Dunyasha. ‘Yakov Alpatych will be here soon and we can leave . . . and if I may say so . . .’
‘What do you mean a trick?’ asked the princess in some surprise.
‘Oh, I’m sure it must be . . . Please do what I say, in God’s name. Ask nurse. They say they won’t leave now, even when you’ve ordered them to go.’
‘There must be some mistake. I haven’t ordered them to go away . . .’ said Princess Marya. ‘Send for Dronushka.’
Dron duly appeared and confirmed what Dunyasha had said. The peasants had come in response to orders from the princess.
‘But I never asked them to come,’ said the princess. ‘You must have given them the wrong message. I just told you to give them the grain.’
Dron gave a sigh, but said nothing.
‘If you give the word, they’ll go away,’ he said.
‘No, no, I’ll go and see them,’ said Princess Marya.
Despite the best efforts of Dunyasha and the old nurse, who wanted to dissuade her, Princess Marya walked out on to the steps. Dronushka, Dunyasha, the old nurse, and Mikhail Ivanych followed on behind.
‘They probably think I’m offering them grain to keep them here while I go away and leave them at the mercy of the French,’ thought Princess Marya. ‘I’ll promise them monthly provisions and somewhere to live on the Moscow estate. I’m sure Andrey would have done even more if he’d been here,’ she thought as she walked forward in the gathering dusk towards the crowd waiting in the paddock near the barn.
The crowd huddled together and a stir went through them as they rapidly doffed their hats. Princess Marya came closer, looking down at her feet as they kept catching in her gown. With so many different eyes, old and young, glued on her, and a sea of so many different faces, Princess Marya could not see them as individuals; she would have to address them all at once, and she didn’t know how to get going. But once again the sense that she was representing her father and brother came to her aid, and she launched forth with full confidence.
