urning to his seat. He didn't like
that round, freckled face, with the blue eyes, which were loaded with
fat. And Yozhov pinched his leg and asked:

"Whose son are you? The Frantic's?"

"Yes."

"So. Do you wish me to prompt you always?"

"Yes."

"And what will you give me for it?"

Foma thought awhile and asked:

"And do you know it all yourself?"

"I? I am the best pupil. You'll see for yourself."

"Hey, there! Yozhov, you are talking again?" cried the teacher, faintly.

Yozhov jumped to his feet and said boldly:

"It's not I, Ivan Andreyich--it's Gordyeeff."

"Both of them were whispering," announced Smolin, serenely.

Wrinkling his face mournfully and moving his big lip comically, the
teacher reprimanded them all, but his words did not prevent Yozhov from
whispering immediately:

"Very well, Smolin! I'll remember you for telling."

"Well, why do you blame it all on the new boy?" asked Smolin, in a low
voice, without even turning his head to them.

"All right, all right," hissed Yozhov.

Foma was silent, looking askance at his brisk neighbour, who at once
pleased him and roused in him a desire to get as far as possible away
from him. During recess he learned from Yozhov that Smolin, too, was
rich, being the son of a tan-yard proprietor, and that Yozhov himself
was the son of a guard at the Court of Exchequer, and very poor. The
last was clearly evident by the adroit boy's costume, made of gray
fustian and adorned with patches on the knees and elbows; by his pale,
hungry-looking face; and, by his small, angular and bony figure. This
boy spoke in a metallic alto, elucidating his words with grimaces and
gesticulations, and he often used words whose meaning was known but to
himself.

"We'll be friends," he announced to Foma.

"Why did you complain to the teacher about me?" Gordyeeff reminded
Yozhov, looking at him suspiciously.

"There! What's the difference to you? You are a new scholar and rich.
The teacher is not exacting with the rich. And I am a poor hanger-on; he
doesn't like me, because I am impudent and because I never bring him any
presents. If I had been a bad pupil he would have expelled me long ago.
You know I'll go to the Gymnasium from here. I'll pass the second class
and then I'll leave. Already a student is preparing me for the second
class. There I'll study so that they can't hold me back! How many horses
do you have?"

"Three. What do you need to study so much for?" asked Foma