ncipation of the peasants," he said, "sport is out of the
question; there are no huntsmen to be had, and the peasants turn out
with sticks and drive the sportsmen off the fields. What is there left
to do nowadays? Country life has become impossible."

With all his good breeding and sincerity, Uncle Seryozha never concealed
any characteristic but one; with the utmost shyness he concealed the
tenderness of his affections, and if it ever forced itself into the
light, it was only in exceptional circumstances and that against his
will.

He displayed with peculiar clearness a family characteristic which was
partly shared by my father, namely, an extraordinary restraint in the
expression of affection, which was often concealed under the mask of
indifference and sometimes even of unexpected harshness. In the matter
of wit and sarcasm, on the other hand, he was strikingly original.

At one period he spent several winters in succession with his family in
Moscow. One time, after a historic concert given by Anton Rubinstein, at
which Uncle Seryozha and his daughter had been, he came to take tea with
us in Weavers' Row.[13]

My father asked him how he had liked the concert.

"Do you remember Himbut, Lyovotchka? Lieutenant Himbut, who was forester
near Yasnaya? I once asked him what was the happiest moment of his life.
Do you know what he answered?

"'When I was in the cadet corps,' he said, 'they used to take down
my breeches now and again and lay me across a bench and flog me. They
flogged and they flogged; when they stopped, that was the happiest
moment of my life.' Well, it was only during the entr'actes, when
Rubinstein stopped playing, that I really enjoyed myself."

He did not always spare my father.

Once when I was out shooting with a setter near Pirogovo, I drove in to
Uncle Seryozha's to stop the night.

I do not remember apropos of what, but Uncle Seryozha averred that
Lyovotchka was proud. He said:

"He is always preaching humility and non-resistance, but he is proud
himself.

"Nashenka's [14] sister had a footman called Forna. When he got drunk,
he used to get under the staircase, tuck in his legs, and lie down. One
day they came and told him that the countess was calling him. 'She can
come and find me if she wants me,' he answered.

"Lyovotchka is just the same. When Dolgoruky sent his chief secretary
Istomin to ask him to come and have a talk with him about Syntayef, the
sectarian, do you know what he a