The Four Winds of Heaven Read Online Free Page B

to run. Mohilna was so enormous that never, perhaps, would the girls have the opportunity to see such a large part of it again; the formal gardens around their house encompassed twelve and a half acres by themselves.
    Behind the bushes lay a field of tall grass, carpeted with breathtaking flowers. Wild iris and lilies and magnificent daisies with varicolored petals mingled with scarlet poppies and thousands of bluebells. Not even in the mountains of Switzerland had the children seen such a display, and they ran here and there, gathering bunches. They did not notice that the sun was descending to the west, nor did they know or care where they were going. Until, with a start, Anna’s voice reached Sonia from among the tall stems. “There is a river here! I guess the Bug makes another turn, and we have found it again!”
    Beyond the small knoll on which they stood, the brook gurgled. “Look!” Anna exclaimed. “There are some stones there, and we can walk across. The water isn’t as deep or as wide as it was when we crossed it before.” She scampered down to the rivulet. Sonia ran down behind her.
    Very carefully, the two sisters skipped from rock to rock, avoiding the cascades of water. But the other side was not as pretty as their field had been, and now Sonia was sorry. She remembered her worries about Mama and Eusebe, and her eyes filled with tears. Suddenly she wanted to be home again, eating bread and jam with her parents and Ossip. She realized that she was very hungry; they had surely missed tea.
    A group of people was marching toward them. Sonia and Anna, with their bare feet and disheveled hair, stood close together, their simple country pinafores splotched with mud and creased from the drive. There were two peasant men and one woman, her hair hidden by a kerchief, and ahead of them a tall, bony man brandishing a whip. His clothing was worn but it was not that of a field worker, and he held his head with an imperiousness that disconcerted Anna. “What are you doing here?” he demanded of them in Russian.
    The Gunzburg children had been reared to speak French, not merely because they had spent most of their lives abroad, but also because people of their status spoke that language among themselves in Russia. They could converse in imperfect, but adequate Russian with their servants. Now Anna replied, “We are Sonia Davidovna and Anna Davidovna de Gunzburg, and we think we are lost. Who are you?”
    The man laughed, an unpleasant, disbelieving sound.“Who do you think I am? Count Tuminsky’s chief overseer in the fields. And you are no Gunzburgs. Your Russian is too poor. And with no shoes, too. You are no doubt some of my workers who decided to sneak away from your duties. Tell me where you belong, and maybe I shall simply make you work over the usual time, instead of flogging you.”
    Anna shook her head stubbornly. “You do not understand! We are truly Baron David’s daughters. Our Mama always lets us go barefoot in the summertime, and we were raised in the French language, so that our Russian is not yet perfect. But we are not liars. If you don’t believe us, why not send one of your people on horseback to our parents, and they will come for us?” But even she was beginning to tremble, for Count Tuminsky, whom she had never seen, was a legendary figure of fear to the Gunzburg children.
    The overseer displayed elongated yellow teeth in a rictus of a smile. “Horseback, no less! You’re liars. Extra work would be too lenient a punishment for you!” He raised his whip. Sonia began to scream, but Anna stood still, and the cat-o’-nine-tails hit her full on the back. She fell forward, sobbing, the back of her dress torn, a streak of blood defined upon her pale skin. Sonia threw herself on top of her sister, smothering her head against Anna’s legs, screaming incoherently. “That’s what we do to vermin who don’t