“ Syoma brings an armful of wood and lays it on the fire. The flame irresolutely licks the black twigs with its little tongues, then suddenly, as though at the word of command, catches them and throws a crimson light on the faces, the road, the white linen with its prominences where the hands and feet of the corpse raise it, the ikon. The "watch" is silent. The young man bends his neck still lower and sets to work with still more nervous haste. The goat-beard sits motionless as before and keeps his eyes fixed on the fire. ”
Anton Chekhov
Summary
Quotes from A Dead Body (Anton Chekhov)
“ You might tell me something, Syoma.""You are a queer fellow, Syomushka! Other people will laugh and tell a story and sing a song, but you--there is no making you out. You sit like a scarecrow in the garden and roll your eyes at the fire. ”
“ If he died a natural death it would go for the good of his soul; if it's a suicide it's a sin.""That's true. . . . And maybe it really was a suicide! So I had better keep my money. Oh, sins, sins! Give me a thousand roubles and I would not consent to sit here. . . . Farewell, brothers."The cassock slowly moves away and stops again."I can't make up my mind what I am to do," he mutters. "To stay here by the fire and wait till daybreak. . . . I am frightened; to go on is dreadful, too. The dead man will haunt me all the way in the darkness. ”
