y absence with a soft knitted scarf brought by
the soldier. There was a faint elusive smell of scent about it, and
I guessed who my good fairy was. The scarf smelt of lilies-of-the-valley,
the favourite scent of Anyuta Blagovo.

Towards winter there was more work and it was more cheerful. Radish
recovered, and we worked together in the cemetery church, where we
were putting the ground-work on the ikon-stand before gilding. It
was a clean, quiet job, and, as our fellows used to say, profitable.
One could get through a lot of work in a day, and the time passed
quickly, imperceptibly. There was no swearing, no laughter, no loud
talk. The place itself compelled one to quietness and decent
behaviour, and disposed one to quiet, serious thoughts. Absorbed
in our work we stood or sat motionless like statues; there was a
deathly silence in keeping with the cemetery, so that if a tool
fell, or a flame spluttered in the lamp, the noise of such sounds
rang out abrupt and resonant, and made us look round. After a long
silence we would hear a buzzing like the swarming of bees: it was
the requiem of a baby being chanted slowly in subdued voices in the
porch; or an artist, painting a dove with stars round it on a cupola
would begin softly whistling, and recollecting himself with a start
would at once relapse into silence; or Radish, answering his thoughts,
would say with a sigh: "Anything is possible! Anything is possible!"
or a slow disconsolate bell would begin ringing over our heads, and
the painters would observe that it must be for the funeral of some
wealthy person. . . .

My days I spent in this stillness in the twilight of the church,
and in the long evenings I played billiards or went to the theatre
in the gallery wearing the new trousers I had bought out of my own
earnings. Concerts and performances had already begun at the
Azhogins'; Radish used to paint the scenes alone now. He used to
tell me the plot of the plays and describe the _tableaux vivants_
which he witnessed. I listened to him with envy. I felt greatly
drawn to the rehearsals, but I could not bring myself to go to the
Azhogins'.

A week before Christmas Dr. Blagovo arrived. And again we argued
and played billiards in the evenings. When he played he used to
take off his coat and unbutton his shirt over his chest, and for
some reason tried altogether to assume the air of a desperate rake.
He did not drink much, but made a great uproar about it, and had a
speci