Even marusya took to jabbering a little Yiddish. Jacob began to
feel that the leadership of our little community was passing into
the hands of Anna, and he became jealous. He did not see that the
very fact that he too was falling under her spell was influencing
our community greatly, and that thus he was stamping it with his own
character.
Anna liked him more than she did any one of us. Moreover, she
respected him. At times it looked as if she were somewhat afraid of
him.
Now you must know that at bottom Anna had never deserted her
religion. Instead, she carried the burdens of both religions; to
the fear of the Jewish hell she seemed to have added the fear of the
Christian hell. I suspect that she was still in the habit of
reciting her Hebrew prayer before going to sleep. She also believed
in dreams. In this respect all women are the same. Of course, she
had her dreams, and Jacob thought himself able to interpret them; he
used to seek her company for that purpose.
So we all began to feel very much at home in Anna's house.
Once it happened that Peter entered the house at a moment when we
were all so much absorbed in our Yiddish conversation that we did
not notice his presence.
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