relishing such fingering, would take alarm at
the same, and, bolting to a discreet distance, thence abuse the idiot,
put out their tongues at him, and drawl in a nasal chorus:

"Nilka, the bottle-neck, the neck without a nape to it" [Probably the
attractiveness of this formula lay rather in the rhyming of the Russian
words: "Nilka, butilka, bashka bez zatilka!" than in their actual
meaning].

Yet their fear of him was in no way reciprocated, nor, for that matter,
did they ever assault him, despite the fact that occasionally they
would throw an old boot or a chip of wood in his direction-throw it
aimlessly, and without really desiring to hit the mark aimed at.

Also, anything circular--for example, a plate or the wheel of a toy,
engaged Nilushka's attention and led him to caress it as eagerly as he
did globes and balls. Evidently the rotundity of the object was the
point that excited his interest. And as he turned the object over and
over, and felt the flat part of it, he would mutter:

"But what about the other one?"

What "the other one" meant I could never divine. Nor could Antipa.
Once, drawing the idiot to him, he said:

"Why do you always say 'What about the other one'?"

Troubled and nervous, Nilushka merely muttered some unintelligible
reply as his fingers turned and turned about the circular object which
he was holding.

"Nothing," at length he replied.

"Nothing of what?

"Nothing here."

"Ah, he is too foolish to understand," said Vologonov with a sigh as
his eyes darkened in meditative fashion.

"Yes, though it may seem foolish to say so," he added, "some people
would envy him."

"Why should they?"

"For more than one reason. To begin with, he lives a life free from
care--he is kept comfortably, and even held in respect. Since no one
can properly understand him, and everyone fears him, through a belief
that folk without wit, the 'blessed ones of God,' are more especially
the Almighty's favourites than persons possessed of understanding. Only
a very wise man could deal with such a matter, and the less so in that
it must be remembered that more than one 'blessed one' has become a
Saint, while some of those possessed of understanding have gone--well,
have gone whither? Yes, indeed!"

And, thoughtfully contracting the bushy eyebrows which looked as though
they had been taken from the face of another man, Vologonov thrust his
hands up his sleeves, and stood eyeing Nilushka shrewdly with his
i