. Well, it has happened--let it have happened; but let us not
repeat it any more.'

"As you wish," prattled the girl, kissing now his hands, now the cloth
of his coat. "If I displease you so, then, of course, let it be as you
wish."

However, this evening also the temptation was again repeated, and kept
on repeating until the falls from grace ceased to arouse a burning
shame in Lichonin, and turned into a habit, swallowing and
extinguishing remorse.

CHAPTER XVI.

Justice must be rendered to Lichonin; he did everything to create for
Liubka a quiet and secure existence. Since he knew that they would have
to leave their mansard anyway--this bird house, rearing above the whole
city--leave it not so much on account of its inconvenience and lack of
space as on account of the old woman Alexandra, who with every day
became more ferocious, captious and scolding--he resolved to rent a
little bit of a flat, consisting of two rooms and a kitchen, on the
Borschhagovka, at the edge of the town. He came upon an inexpensive
one, for nine roubles a month, without fuel. True, Lichonin had to run
very far from there to his pupils, but he relied firmly upon his
endurance and health, and would often say:

"My legs are my own. I don't have to be sparing of them."

And, truly, he was a great master at walking. Once, for the sake of a
joke, having put a pedometer in his vest pocket, he towards evening
counted up twenty versts; which, taking into consideration the unusual
length of his legs, equalled some twenty-five versts.[21] And he did
have to run about quite a bit, because the fuss about Liubka's passport
and the acquisition of household furnishings of a sort had eaten up all
his accidental winnings at cards. He did try to take up playing again,
on a small scale at first, but was soon convinced that his star at
cards had now entered upon a run of fatal ill luck.

[21] A verst is equal to two-thirds of a mile.--Trans.

By now, of course, the real character of his relations with Liubka was
a mystery to none of his comrades; but he still continued in their
presence to act out the comedy of friendly and brotherly relations with
the girl. For some reason he could not, or did not want to, realize
that it would have been far wiser and more advantageous for him not to
lie, not to be false, and not to pretend. Or, perhaps, although he did
know this, he still could not change the established tone. As for the
intimate relations