y behalf. Before they gave me a railway contract I
went about as a mechanic and worked in Belgium as an oiler. And
you, Panteley, what are you doing here?" he asked, turning to Radish.
"Drinking with them?"

He, for some reason, always called humble people Panteley, and such
as me and Tcheprakov he despised, and called them drunkards, beasts,
and rabble to their faces. Altogether he was cruel to humble
subordinates, and used to fine them and turn them off coldly without
explanations.

At last the horses came for him. As he said good-bye he promised
to turn us all off in a fortnight; he called his bailiff a blockhead;
and then, lolling at ease in his carriage, drove back to the town.

"Andrey Ivanitch," I said to Radish, "take me on as a workman."

"Oh, all right!"

And we set off together in the direction of the town. When the
station and the big house with its buildings were left behind I
asked: "Andrey Ivanitch, why did you come to Dubetchnya this evening?"

"In the first place my fellows are working on the line, and in the
second place I came to pay the general's lady my interest. Last
year I borrowed fifty roubles from her, and I pay her now a rouble
a month interest."

The painter stopped and took me by the button.

"Misail Alexeyitch, our angel," he went on. "The way I look at it
is that if any man, gentle or simple, takes even the smallest
interest, he is doing evil. There cannot be truth and justice in
such a man."

Radish, lean, pale, dreadful-looking, shut his eyes, shook his head,
and, in the tone of a philosopher, pronounced:

"Lice consume the grass, rust consumes the iron, and lying the soul.
Lord, have mercy upon us sinners."

V

Radish was not practical, and was not at all good at forming an
estimate; he took more work than he could get through, and when
calculating he was agitated, lost his head, and so was almost always
out of pocket over his jobs. He undertook painting, glazing,
paperhanging, and even tiling roofs, and I can remember his running
about for three days to find tilers for the sake of a paltry job.
He was a first-rate workman; he sometimes earned as much as ten
roubles a day; and if it had not been for the desire at all costs
to be a master, and to be called a contractor, he would probably
have had plenty of money.

He was paid by the job, but he paid me and the other workmen by the
day, from one and twopence to two shillings a day. When it was fine
and dry we did all ki