on his overcoat.

Having put it on he sighed deeply, thanked his hosts, said good-bye,
and went out of the warm bright room into the cold dark passage, through
which the wind was howling and where snow was blowing through the cracks
of the shaking door, and from there into the yard.

Petrushka stood in his sheepskin in the middle of the yard by his horse,
repeating some lines from Paulson's primer. He said with a smile:

'Storms with mist the sky conceal,
Snowy circles wheeling wild.
Now like savage beast 'twill howl,
And now 'tis wailing like a child.'

Nikita nodded approvingly as he arranged the reins.

The old man, seeing Vasili Andreevich off, brought a lantern into the
passage to show him a light, but it was blown out at once. And even in
the yard it was evident that the snowstorm had become more violent.

'Well, this is weather!' thought Vasili Andreevich. 'Perhaps we may not
get there after all. But there is nothing to be done. Business! Besides,
we have got ready, our host's horse has been harnessed, and we'll get
there with God's help!'

Their aged host also thought they ought not to go, but he had already
tried to persuade them to stay and had not been listened to.

'It's no use asking them again. Maybe my age makes me timid. They'll
get there all right, and at least we shall get to bed in good time and
without any fuss,' he thought.

Petrushka did not think of danger. He knew the road and the whole
district so well, and the lines about 'snowy circles wheeling wild'
described what was happening outside so aptly that it cheered him up.
Nikita did not wish to go at all, but he had been accustomed not to have
his own way and to serve others for so long that there was no one to
hinder the departing travellers.

V

Vasili Andreevich went over to his sledge, found it with difficulty in
the darkness, climbed in and took the reins.

'Go on in front!' he cried.

Petrushka kneeling in his low sledge started his horse. Mukhorty, who
had been neighing for some time past, now scenting a mare ahead of him
started after her, and they drove out into the street. They drove again
through the outskirts of the village and along the same road, past the
yard where the frozen linen had hung (which, however, was no longer to
be seen), past the same barn, which was now snowed up almost to the
roof and from which the snow was still endlessly pouring past the same
dismally moaning, whistling,