than theirs over their domestic
animals.

The inhabitants of the place had noticed with dismay that the
slumber-flag had not been hoisted on the castle, although it was half an
hour after the usual time. So rare a circumstance betokened sudden wrath
or disaster, on the part of Prince Alexis. Long experience had prepared
the people for anything that might happen, and they were consequently
not astonished at the singular event which presently transpired.

The fact is, that, in the first place, the dinner had been prolonged
full ten minutes beyond its accustomed limit, owing to a discussion
between the Prince, his wife, the Princess Martha, and their son, Prince
Boris. The last was to leave for St. Petersburg in a fortnight, and
wished to have his departure preceded by a festival at the castle. The
Princess Martha was always ready to second the desires of her only
child. Between the two they had pressed some twenty or thirty thousand
rubles out of the old Prince, for the winter diversions of the young
one. The festival, to be sure, would have been a slight expenditure for
a noble of such immense wealth as Prince Alexis; but he never liked his
wife, and he took a stubborn pleasure in thwarting her wishes. It was no
satisfaction that Boris resembled her in character. That weak successor
to the sovereignty of Kinesma preferred a game of cards to a bear-hunt,
and could never drink more than a quart of vodki without becoming dizzy
and sick.

"Ugh!" Prince Alexis would cry, with a shudder of disgust, "the whelp
barks after the dam!"

A state dinner he might give; but a festival, with dances, dramatic
representations, burning tar-barrels, and cannon,--no! He knitted his
heavy brows and drank deeply, and his fiery gray eyes shot such
incessant glances from side to side that Boris and the Princess Martha
could not exchange a single wink of silent advice. The pet bear, Mishka,
plied with strong wines, which Prince Alexis poured out for him into a
golden basin, became at last comically drunk, and in endeavoring to
execute a dance lost his balance and fell at full length on his back.

The Prince burst into a yelling, shrieking fit of laughter. Instantly
the yellow-haired serfs in waiting, the Calmucks at the hall-door, and
the half-witted dwarf who crawled around the table in his tow shirt,
began laughing in chorus, as violently as they could. The Princess
Martha and Prince Boris laughed also; and while the old man's eyes were
d