ironovnas, and plain
Fekluskas and Arinkas, who received asylum in the women's wing. No less
than fifteen persons ever sat down to Alexyei Sergyeitch's table ... he
was so hospitable!--Among all these parasites two individuals stood
forth with special prominence: a dwarf named Janus or the Two-faced, a
Dane,--or, as some asserted, of Jewish extraction,--and crazy Prince L.
In contrast to the customs of that day the dwarf did not in the least
serve as a butt for the guests, and was not a jester; on the contrary,
he maintained constant silence, wore an irate and surly mien,
contracted his brows in a frown, and gnashed his teeth as soon as any
one addressed a question to him. Alexyei Sergyeitch also called him a
philosopher, and even respected him. At table he was always the first to
be served after the guests and the master and mistress of the
house.--"God has wronged him," Alexyei Sergyeitch was wont to say: "that
was the Lord's will; but it is not my place to wrong him."

"Why is he a philosopher?" I asked one day. (Janus did not like me. No
sooner would I approach him, than he would begin to snarl and growl
hoarsely, "Stranger! don't bother me!")

"But God have mercy, why isn't he a philosopher?" replied Alexyei
Sergyeitch. "Just observe, my little gentleman, how finely he holds his
tongue!"

"But why is he two-faced?"

"Because, my young sir, he has one face outside; there it is for you,
ninny, and judge it.... But the other, the real one, he hides. And I am
the only one who knows that face, and for that I love him.... Because 't
is a good face. Thou, for example, gazest and beholdest nothing ... but
even without words, I see when he is condemning me for anything; for he
is strict! And always with reason. Which thing thou canst not
understand, young sir; but just believe me, an old man!"

The true history of the two-faced Janus--whence he had come, how he had
got into Alexyei Sergyeitch's house--no one knew. On the other hand, the
story of Prince L. was well known to all. As a young man of twenty, he
had come from a wealthy and distinguished family to Petersburg, to serve
in a regiment of the Guards; the Empress Katherine noticed him at the
first Court reception, and halting in front of him and pointing to him
with her fan, she said, in a loud voice, addressing one of her
favourites: "Look, Adam Vasilievitch, see what a beauty! A regular
doll!" The blood flew to the poor young fellow's head. On reaching home
he