n these occasions all the neighbours come to offer their
congratulations, and remain to dinner as a matter of course. After
dinner the older visitors sit down to cards, and the young people
extemporise a dance. The fete is specially successful when the eldest
son comes home to take part in it, and brings a brother officer with
him. He is now a general like his father.* In days gone by one of his
comrades was expected to offer his hand to Olga Nekola'vna, the second
daughter, a delicate young lady who had been educated in one of the
great Instituts--gigantic boarding-schools, founded and kept up by the
Government, for the daughters of those who are supposed to have deserved
well of their country. Unfortunately the expected offer was never made,
and she and her sister live at home as old maids, bewailing the absence
of "civilised" society, and killing time in a harmless, elegant way by
means of music, needlework, and light literature.

* Generals are much more common in Russia than in other
countries. A few years ago there was an old lady in Moscow
who had a family of ten sons, all of whom were generals!
The rank may be obtained in the civil as well as the
military service.

At these "name-day" gatherings one used to meet still more interesting
specimens of the old school. One of them I remember particularly. He was
a tall, corpulent old man, in a threadbare frock-coat, which wrinkled
up about his waist. His shaggy eyebrows almost covered his small, dull
eyes, his heavy moustache partially concealed a large mouth strongly
indicating sensuous tendencies. His hair was cut so short that it was
difficult to say what its colour would be if it were allowed to grow.
He always arrived in his tarantass just in time for the zakuska--the
appetising collation that is served shortly before dinner--grunted out
a few congratulations to the host and hostess and monosyllabic greetings
to his acquaintances, ate a copious meal, and immediately afterwards
placed himself at a card-table, where he sat in silence as long as he
could get any one to play with him. People did not like, however, to
play with Andrei Vassil'itch, for his society was not agreeable, and he
always contrived to go home with a well-filled purse.

Andrei Vassil'itch was a noted man in the neighbourhood. He was the
centre of a whole cycle of legends, and I have often heard that his name
was used with effect by nurses to frighten naughty children.