ud of dust, which caused the man of
manacles to step back and rub his eyes. With a muttered curse on the
meddlesome official, Tchartkoff sprang forward to raise the picture. As
he did so, a small board, forming one of the sides of the frame, and
which had been cracked by the fall, gave way altogether under the
pressure of his hand, and part of it fell out. The fragment was followed
by a rouleau of dark blue paper, which emitted a dull chink as it struck
the ground. Tchartkoff's eye glanced upon an inscription; it was--1000
DUCATS. To snatch up the packet, and thrust it into his pocket, was the
work of an instant.

"Surely, I heard the sound of coin," said the Kvartalnue, who, owing to
the dust, and to the rapidity of the painter's movement, had not caught
sight of the rouleau.

"And what business of yours is it, to know what I have in my room?"

"It's my business to tell you, that you must pay the landlord his rent;
it's my business to tell you, that I know you have money, and yet you
won't pay--that's my business, my fine fellow!"

"Well, I will pay him to-day."

"And, why did you not pay at once, without giving trouble to the
landlord, and disturbing the police?"

"Because I didn't intend to touch this money. But I will pay him this
evening, and leave his lodgings at once. I will live no longer in his
paltry garret."

"He will pay you, Ivan Ivanovitch," said the Kvartalnue to the landlord.
"If you neglect to do so by this evening, why then you must excuse me,
Mr Painter, if we use severer means." And resuming his cocked hat, he
departed, followed by the landlord, who hung his head, and looked
exceedingly small.

"The devil go with them!" said Tchartkoff, as he heard the outer door
shut. He looked into the ante-room, sent Nikita out, in order to be
quite alone, locked himself in, and, with a violent palpitation of the
heart, opened his packet. It contained exactly a thousand ducats, almost
all of them quite new, and sparkling like the sun. Its appearance was
precisely the same as those he had seen in his dream. Almost frantic
with delight, he sat with the pile of gold before him, asking himself
whether he did not still dream. Long did he handle and tell the gold
before he could believe that it was real, and that he himself was awake
and in his right mind.

He then curiously and carefully examined the frame. In one side of it a
kind of cavity had been hollowed out, and afterwards closed with a
board, so neat