Read "Isn't it Terrible?" by Vladimir Korolenko online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
"The scandal began to attract attention. It was talked about in the city. Various opinions were held. Some defended Budnikov. Was it worth while to believe mere rumors? Really no one knew anything. Some were stupid stories; others, evident scandals and an unseemly breaking of the general quiet. But there was another side. People of the lower classes sympathized with Gavrilo. They thought that the wise and strong M. Budnikov must have filched from Gavrilo some sort of a talisman and was now committing sorcery so that the talisman would lose its power. So dozens of eyes were turned to the windows of M. Budnikov and looked at him as he passed, stubbornly and calmly, apparently unaware of the cloud of misunderstanding, suspicion, condemnation, question,. yes, sin, which trailed after him. Every look expressed an evil thought and every heart was heating with an evil feeling. It was a peculiar sort of dark cloud. Hundreds of individual spiritual movements, confused, unclear, but evil. And all aimed at one centre.
"I must say Budnikov had been rather popular and enjoyed the respect of all. Even Rogov, when he happened to pass our yard and saw M. Budnikov with a shovel or rake, always stopped and said: