a poor
student: a sagging, unmade bed with a crumpled blanket; a lame table,
and on it a candlestick without a candle; several books on the floor
and on the table; cigarette stubs everywhere; and opposite the bed,
along the other wall, an old, old divan, upon which at the present
moment was sleeping and snoring, with mouth wide open, some young man
with black hair and moustache. The collar of his shirt was unbuttoned
and through its opening could be seen the chest and black hair, the
like of which for thickness and curliness could be found only on
Persian lambs.

"Nijeradze! Hey, Nijeradze, get up!" cried Lichonin and prodded the
sleeper in the ribs. "Prince!"

"M-m-m..."

"May your race be even accursed in the person of your ancestors and
descendants! May they even be exiled from the heights of the beauteous
Caucasus! May they even never behold the blessed Georgia! Get up, you
skunk! Get up you Aravian dromedary! Kintoshka! ..."

But suddenly, unexpectedly for Lichonin, Liubka intervened. She took
him by the arm and said timidly:

"Darling, why torture him? Maybe he wants to sleep, maybe he's tired?
Let him sleep a bit. I'd better go home. Will you give me a half for a
cabby? To-morrow you'll come to me again. Isn't that so, sweetie?"

Lichonin was abashed. So strange did the intervention of this silent,
apparently sleepy girl, appear to him. Of course, he did not grasp that
she was actuated by an instinctive, unconscious pity for a man who had
not had enough sleep; or, perhaps, a professional regard for the sleep
of other people. But the astonishment was only momentary. For some
reason he became offended. He raised the hand of the recumbent man,
which hung down to the floor, with the extinguished cigarette still
remaining between its fingers, and, shaking it hard, he said in a
serious, almost severe voice:

"Listen, now, Nijeradze, I'm asking you seriously. Understand, now, may
the devil take you that I'm not alone, but with a woman. Swine!"

It was as though a miracle had happened: the lying man suddenly jumped
up, as though some spring of unusual force had instantaneously unwound
under him. He sat down on the divan, rapidly rubbed with his palms his
eyes, forehead, temples; saw the woman, became confused at once, and
muttered, hastily buttoning his blouse:

"Is that you, Lichonin? And here I was waiting and waiting for you and
fell asleep. Request the unknown comrade to turn away for just a
minute."