were walking along, and all of a
sudden--would you believe it?--Kovalenko came bowling along on a
bicycle, and after him, also on a bicycle, Varinka, flushed and
exhausted, but good-humoured and gay.

"'We are going on ahead,' she called. 'What lovely weather! Awfully
lovely!'

"And they both disappeared from our sight. Byelikov turned white instead
of green, and seemed petrified. He stopped short and stared at me....

"'What is the meaning of it? Tell me, please!' he asked. 'Can my eyes
have deceived me? Is it the proper thing for high-school masters and
ladies to ride bicycles?'

"'What is there improper about it?' I said. 'Let them ride and enjoy
themselves.'

"'But how can that be?' he cried, amazed at my calm. 'What are you
saying?'

"And he was so shocked that he was unwilling to go on, and returned
home.

"Next day he was continually twitching and nervously rubbing his hands,
and it was evident from his face that he was unwell. And he left before
his work was over, for the first time in his life. And he ate no dinner.
Towards evening he wrapped himself up warmly, though it was quite warm
weather, and sallied out to the Kovalenkos'. Varinka was out; he found
her brother, however.

"'Pray sit down,' Kovalenko said coldly, with a frown. His face looked
sleepy; he had just had a nap after dinner, and was in a very bad
humour.

"Byelikov sat in silence for ten minutes, and then began:

"'I have come to see you to relieve my mind. I am very, very much
troubled. Some scurrilous fellow has drawn an absurd caricature of me
and another person, in whom we are both deeply interested. I regard it
as a duty to assure you that I have had no hand in it.... I have given
no sort of ground for such ridicule--on the contrary, I have always
behaved in every way like a gentleman.'

"Kovalenko sat sulky and silent. Byelikov waited a little, and went on
slowly in a mournful voice:

"'And I have something else to say to you. I have been in the service
for years, while you have only lately entered it, and I consider it my
duty as an older colleague to give you a warning. You ride on a bicycle,
and that pastime is utterly unsuitable for an educator of youth.'

"'Why so?' asked Kovalenko in his bass.

"'Surely that needs no explanation, Mihail Savvitch--surely you can
understand that? If the teacher rides a bicycle, what can you expect
the pupils to do? You will have them walking on their heads next! And
so long as there