o marry him to Luba, and this
made the old man more repulsive to him.

He liked Luba, but at the same time she seemed suspicious and dangerous
for him. She did not marry, and Mayakin never said a word about it; he
gave no evening parties, invited none of the youths to his house and did
not allow Luba to leave the house. And all her girl friends were married
already. Foma admired her words and listened to her just as eagerly as
to her father; but whenever she started to speak of Taras with love and
anguish, it seemed to him that she was hiding another man under that
name, perhaps that same Yozhov, who according to her words, had to leave
the university for some reason or other, and go to Moscow. There was a
great deal of simplemindedness and kindness in her, which pleased Foma,
and ofttimes her words awakened in him a feeling of pity for her; it
seemed to him that she was not alive, that she was dreaming though
awake.

His conduct at the funeral feast for his father became known to all the
merchants and gave him a bad reputation. On the Exchange, he noticed,
everybody looked at him sneeringly, malevolently, and spoke to him in
some peculiar way. One day he heard behind him a low exclamation, full
of contempt:

"Gordyeeff! Milksop!"

He felt that this was said of him, but he did not turn around to see who
it was that flung those words at him. The rich people, who had inspired
him with timidity before, were now losing in his eyes the witchery of
their wealth and wisdom. They had more than once snatched out of his
hands this or that profitable contract; he clearly saw that they would
do it again, and they all seemed to him alike--greedy for money, always
ready to cheat one another. When he imparted to his godfather his
observation, the old man said:

"How then? Business is just the same as war--a hazardous affair. There
they fight for the purse, and in the purse is the soul."

"I don't like this," announced Foma.

"Neither do I like everything--there's too much fraud.

"But to be fair in business matters is utterly impossible; you must be
shrewd! In business, dear, on approaching a man you must hold honey in
your left hand, and clutch a knife in your right. Everybody would like
to buy five copecks' worth for a half a copeck."

"Well, this isn't too good," said Foma, thoughtfully. "But it will be
good later. When you have taken the upper hand, then it will be good.
Life, dear Foma, is very simple: either bite ever