s. "But
you, my dear, don't be angry, you look well enough, but beside my little
dove you're nowhere."

"And, really, she is charming," Nejdanov thought; "oh, how I love her!"

"Look now," Tatiana continued, "she insisted on changing rings with me.
She has given me a golden ring and taken my silver one."

"Girls of the people do not wear gold rings," Mariana observed.

Tatiana sighed.

"I'll take good care of it, my dear; don't be afraid."

"Well, sit down, sit down both of you," Solomin began; he had been
standing all the while with his head bent a little to one side, gazing
at Mariana. "In olden days, if you remember, people always sat down
before starting on a journey. And you have both a long and wearisome one
before you."

Mariana, still crimson, sat down, then Nejdanov and Solomin, and last
of all Tatiana took her seat on a thick block of wood. Solomin looked at
each of them in turn.

"Let us step back a pace,
Let us step back a bit,
To see with what grace
And how nicely we sit,"

he said with a frown. Suddenly he burst out laughing, but so
good-naturedly that no one was in the least offended, on the contrary,
they all began to feel merry too. Only Nejdanov rose suddenly.

"I must go now," he said; "this is all very nice, but rather like a
farce. Don't be uneasy," he added, turning to Solomin. "I shall not
interfere with your people. I'll try my tongue on the folk around about
and will tell you all about it when I come back, Mariana, if there is
anything to tell. Wish me luck!"

"Why not have a cup of tea first?" Tatiana remarked.

"No thanks. If I want any I can go into an eating-house or into a public
house."

Tatiana shook her head.

"Goodbye, goodbye... good luck to you!" Nejdanov added, entering upon
his role of small shopkeeper. But before he had reached the door Pavel
thrust his head in from the passage under his very nose, and handing him
a thin, long staff, cut out all the way down like a screw, he said:

"Take this, Alexai Dmitritch, and lean on it as you walk. And the
farther you hold it away from yourself the better it will look."

Nejdanov took the staff without a word and went out. Tatiana wanted to
go out too, but Mariana stopped her.

"Wait a minute, Tatiana Osipovna. I want you."

"I'll be back directly with the samovar. Your friend has gone off
without tea, he was in such a mighty hurry. But that is no reason why
you should not have any. Later on thing