Chapter 287

She confided in him how she dreamed last night of a fine little cabin that always smelled of warm meat stew and decent food being cooked to nourish all the enthusiastic and hungry serfs. He mumbled to her that he certainly wished her well but that the excursion might be hazardous. She shushed him about the difficulty; she had an ambition now to hold on to.

Hours later, Dimitri abruptly felt re-energized, with high expectations and ambitions. He wasn't behaving like a dummy at all. He was offering these poor serfs something they needed and wanted. Freedom. His silver coins weren't bought in vain. He might as well free himself from the chastisements of the past and be happy with their freedom.