“Iliketheriverandtheforestandthevillage，“ElenaIvanovnawenton；“Icouldlivehereallmylife，andIfeelasthoughhereIshouldgetstrongandfindmyplace。Iwanttohelpyou——
Iwanttodreadfully——tobeofuse，tobearealfriendtoyou。
Iknowyourneed，andwhatIdon’tknowIfeel，myheartguesses。
Iamsick，feeble，andformeperhapsitisnotpossibletochangemylifeasIwould。ButIhavechildren。Iwilltrytobringthemupthattheymaybeofusetoyou，mayloveyou。I
shallimpressuponthemcontinuallythattheirlifedoesnotbelongtothem，buttoyou。OnlyIbegyouearnestly，Ibeseechyou，trustus，liveinfriendshipwithus。Myhusbandisakind，goodman。Don’tworryhim，don’tirritatehim。Heissensitivetoeverytrifle，andyesterday，forinstance，yourcattlewereinourvegetablegarden，andoneofyourpeoplebrokedownthefencetothebee-hives，andsuchanattitudetousdrivesmyhusbandtodespair。Ibegyou，“shewentoninanimploringvoice，andsheclaspedherhandsonherbosom——“Ibegyoutotreatusasgoodneighbours；letusliveinpeace！Thereisasaying，youknow，thatevenabadpeaceisbetterthanagoodquarrel，and，’Don’tbuyproperty，butbuyneighbours。’Irepeatmyhusbandisakindmanandgood；ifallgoeswellwepromisetodoeverythinginourpowerforyou；wewillmendtheroads，wewillbuildaschoolforyourchildren。Ipromiseyou。“