rt. But what could we do? We
could not dream of resuming our journey. Saveliitch's uneasiness amused
me very much. I stretched myself on a bench. My old retainer at last
decided to get up on the top of the stove,[25] while the host lay down
on the floor. They all soon began to snore, and I myself soon fell dead
asleep.

When I awoke, somewhat late, on the morrow I saw that the storm was
over. The sun shone brightly; the snow stretched afar like a dazzling
sheet. The horses were already harnessed. I paid the host, who named
such a mere trifle as my reckoning that Saveliitch did not bargain as he
usually did. His suspicions of the evening before were quite gone. I
called the guide to thank him for what he had done for us, and I told
Saveliitch to give him half a rouble as a reward.

Saveliitch frowned.

"Half a rouble!" cried he. "Why? Because you were good enough to bring
him yourself to the inn? I will obey you, excellency, but we have no
half roubles to spare. If we take to giving gratuities to everybody we
shall end by dying of hunger."

I could not dispute the point with Saveliitch; my money, according to my
solemn promise, was entirely at his disposal. Nevertheless, I was
annoyed that I was not able to reward a man who, if he had not brought
me out of fatal danger, had, at least, extricated me from an awkward
dilemma.

"Well," I said, coolly, to Saveliitch, "if you do not wish to give him
half a rouble give him one of my old coats; he is too thinly clad. Give
him my hareskin _touloup_."

"Have mercy on me, my father, Petr' Andrejitch!" exclaimed Saveliitch.
"What need has he of your _touloup_? He will pawn it for drink, the
dog, in the first tavern he comes across."

"That, my dear old fellow, is no longer your affair," said the vagabond,
"whether I drink it or whether I do not. His excellency honours me with
a coat off his own back.[26] It is his excellency's will, and it is your
duty as a serf not to kick against it, but to obey."

"You don't fear heaven, robber that you are," said Saveliitch, angrily.
"You see the child is still young and foolish, and you are quite ready
to plunder him, thanks to his kind heart. What do you want with a
gentleman's _touloup_? You could not even put it across your cursed
broad shoulders."

"I beg you will not play the wit," I said to my follower. "Get the cloak
quickly."

"Oh! good heavens!" exclaimed Saveliitch, bemoaning himself. "A
_touloup_ of hareskin, and still