re, I think--but I have not been with him long."

"Well! Just so!... Just so!... Grigori Aleksandrovich?... that is his
name, of course? Your master and I were friends," he added, giving the
manservant a friendly clap on the shoulder with such force as to cause
him to stagger.

"Excuse me, sir, you are hindering me," said the latter, frowning.

"What a fellow you are, my friend! Why, don't you know, your master and
I were bosom friends, and lived together?... But where has he put up?"

The servant intimated that Pechorin had stayed to take supper and pass
the night at Colonel N----'s.

"But won't he be looking in here in the evening?" said Maksim Maksimych.
"Or, you, my man, won't you be going over to him for something?... If
you do, tell him that Maksim Maksimych is here; just say that--he'll
know!--I'll give you half a ruble for a tip!"

The manservant made a scornful face on hearing such a modest promise,
but he assured Maksim Maksimych that he would execute his commission.

"He'll be sure to come running up directly!" said Maksim Maksimych, with
an air of triumph. "I will go outside the gate and wait for him! Ah,
it's a pity I am not acquainted with Colonel N----!"

Maksim Maksimych sat down on a little bench outside the gate, and I
went to my room. I confess that I also was awaiting this Pechorin's
appearance with a certain amount of impatience--although, from the
staff-captain's story, I had formed a by no means favourable idea of
him. Still, certain traits in his character struck me as remarkable. In
an hour's time one of the old soldiers brought a steaming samovar and a
teapot.

"Won't you have some tea, Maksim Maksimych?" I called out of the window.

"Thank you. I am not thirsty, somehow."

"Oh, do have some! It is late, you know, and cold!"

"No, thank you"...

"Well, just as you like!"

I began my tea alone. About ten minutes afterwards my old captain came
in.

"You are right, you know; it would be better to have a drop of tea--but
I was waiting for Pechorin. His man has been gone a long time now, but
evidently something has detained him."

The staff-captain hurriedly sipped a cup of tea, refused a second,
and went off again outside the gate--not without a certain amount of
disquietude. It was obvious that the old man was mortified by Pechorin's
neglect, the more so because a short time previously he had been telling
me of their friendship, and up to an hour ago had been convinced that
Pec