Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: flung his money about without counting it, shed tears under the influence of the national peasant songs, and danced and thrashed some one, no matter whom, but never found relief anywhere or in anything. Once upon a time it happened, that the company with whom Ignat was carousing was joined—as a clod of mud sticks to the boot—by a disfrocked deacon, a short, squat man, in a ragged cassock, and with a bald head. This characterless, disgusting and monstrous individual played the part of a jester. They smeared his bald spot with mustard, made him go on all fours, drink a mixture of brandies, dance indecent dances; all this he did in silence, with an idiotic smile on his wrinkled face, and when he had done what he had been ordered to do, he invariably said, extending his hand, palm upwards: " Please give me a ruble." They laughed at him and sometimes gave him a twenty- kopek piece, and sometimes nothing at all; but then again, they sometimes flung ten rubles or more at him. "You're an abomination!" shouted Ignat at him one day, " Tell us who you are? " The deacon was frightened by the shout, and making a low bow to Ignat, held his peace. " Who? Speak up! " roared Ignat. " I1 am a man—for insult," replied the deacon, and the company roared with laughter at his words. " Are you a worthless scamp? " asked Ignat menacingly. " I am a worthless scamp—through want and the weakness of my soul." " Come hither! " Ignat summoned him. " Come and sit here beside me." 1 The deacon's language is strongly tinged with ecclesiastical Slavonic: e.g. zz, instead of ya.—Translator. With timid steps, quivering with terror, the deacon drew near to the drunken merchant, and stood facing him. " Sit down here beside me!" said Ignat, seizing his hand and forcing the frighte...