wned the lieutenant.
"H'm! . . . he's probably gone round to see the tenant."

But Alexey Ivanovitch was not back by supper either. His wife and
Sokolsky decided that he was playing cards at the tenant's and would
most likely stay the night there. What had happened was not what
they had supposed, however.

Kryukov returned next morning, and without greeting any one, without
a word, dashed into his study.

"Well?" whispered the lieutenant, gazing at him round-eyed.

Kryukov waved his hand and gave a snort.

"Why, what's the matter? What are you laughing at?"

Kryukov flopped on the sofa, thrust his head in the pillow, and
shook with suppressed laughter. A minute later he got up, and looking
at the surprised lieutenant, with his eyes full of tears from
laughing, said:

"Close the door. Well . . . she _is_ a fe-e-male, I beg to inform
you!"

"Did you get the IOUs?"

Kryukov waved his hand and went off into a peal of laughter again.

"Well! she is a female!" he went on. "_Merci_ for the acquaintance,
my boy! She's a devil in petticoats. I arrived; I walked in like
such an avenging Jove, you know, that I felt almost afraid of myself
. . . . I frowned, I scowled, even clenched my fists to be more
awe-inspiring. . . . 'Jokes don't pay with me, madam!' said I, and
more in that style. And I threatened her with the law and with the
Governor. To begin with she burst into tears, said she'd been joking
with you, and even took me to the cupboard to give me the money.
Then she began arguing that the future of Europe lies in the hands
of the French, and the Russians, swore at women. . . . Like you, I
listened, fascinated, ass that I was. . . . She kept singing the
praises of my beauty, patted me on the arm near the shoulder, to
see how strong I was, and . . . and as you see, I've only just got
away from her! Ha, ha! She's enthusiastic about you!"

"You're a nice fellow!" laughed the lieutenant. "A married man!
highly respected. . . . Well, aren't you ashamed? Disgusted? Joking
apart though, old man, you've got your Queen Tamara in your own
neighbourhood. . . ."

"In my own neighbourhood! Why, you wouldn't find another such
chameleon in the whole of Russia! I've never seen anything like it
in my life, though I know a good bit about women, too. I have known
regular devils in my time, but I never met anything like this. It
is, as you say, by insolence and cynicism she gets over you. What
is so attractive in her is the dia