s of tea. Fischelowitz will be at home in a few minutes, and you see I
have guessed half your story, so you may as well tell me the other half
and be done with it. It is of no use for you to go to the shop after him.
He has shut up by this time, and you cannot tell which way he will come
home, can you? Much better come in and have a glass of tea. The samovar is
lighted and everything is ready, so that you need not stay long."

Schmidt lingered doubtfully a moment on the stairs. The closing hour was
certainly past in early-closing Munich, and he might miss the tobacconist
in the street. It seemed wiser to wait for him in his house, and so the
Cossack reluctantly accepted the invitation, which, under ordinary
circumstances, he would have regarded as a great honour. Akulina ushered
him into the little sitting-room and prepared him a large glass of tea
with a slice of lemon in it. She filled another for herself and sat down
opposite to him at the table.

"The poor Count!" she exclaimed. "He is sure to get himself into trouble
some day. I suppose people cannot help behaving oddly when they are mad,
poor things. And the Count is certainly mad, Herr Schmidt."

"Quite mad, poor man. He has had one of his worst attacks to-day."

"Yes," assented the wily Akulina, "and if you could have seen him and
heard him in the shop this evening--" She held up her hands and shook her
head.

"What did he do and say?"

"Oh, such things, such things! Poor man, of course I am very sorry for
him, and I am glad that my husband finds room to employ him, and keep him
from starving. But really, this evening he quite made me lose my temper. I
am afraid I was a little rough, considering that he is sensitive. But to
hear the man talk about his money, and his titles, and his dignities, when
he is only just able to keep body and soul together! It is enough to
irritate the seven archangels, Herr Schmidt, indeed it is! And then at the
same time there was that dreadful Gigerl, and my head was splitting--I am
sure there will be a thunder-storm to-night--altogether, I could not bear
it any longer, and I actually upset the Gigerl out of anger, and it rolled
to the floor and was broken. Of course it is very foolish to lose one's
temper in that way, but after all, I am only a weak woman, and I confess
it was a relief to me when I saw the poor Count take the thing away. I
hope I did not really hurt his feelings, for he is an excellent workman,
in spite of his