alicious laughter from Sobol and
his Vaska the doctor's kittens raced ahead. My Nikanor took it as an
affront, and held in his three horses, but when the doctor's bells had
passed out of hearing, he raised his elbows, shouted, and our horses
flew like mad in pursuit. We drove into a village, there were glimpses
of lights, the silhouettes of huts. Some one shouted:

"Ah, the devils!" We seemed to have galloped a mile and a half, and
still it was the village street and there seemed no end to it. When we
caught up the doctor and drove more quietly, he asked for matches and
said:

"Now try and feed that street! And, you know, there are five streets
like that, sir. Stay, stay," he shouted. "Turn in at the tavern! We must
get warm and let the horses rest."

They stopped at the tavern.

"I have more than one village like that in my district," said the
doctor, opening a heavy door with a squeaky block, and ushering me in
front of him. "If you look in broad daylight you can't see to the end of
the street, and there are side-streets, too, and one can do nothing but
scratch one's head. It's hard to do anything."

We went into the best room where there was a strong smell of
table-cloths, and at our entrance a sleepy peasant in a waistcoat and a
shirt worn outside his trousers jumped up from a bench. Sobol asked for
some beer and I asked for tea.

"It's hard to do anything," said Sobol. "Your wife has faith; I respect
her and have the greatest reverence for her, but I have no great faith
myself. As long as our relations to the people continue to have the
character of ordinary philanthropy, as shown in orphan asylums and
almshouses, so long we shall only be shuffling, shamming, and deceiving
ourselves, and nothing more. Our relations ought to be businesslike,
founded on calculation, knowledge, and justice. My Vaska has been
working for me all his life; his crops have failed, he is sick and
starving. If I give him fifteen kopecks a day, by so doing I try to
restore him to his former condition as a workman; that is, I am first
and foremost looking after my own interests, and yet for some reason I
call that fifteen kopecks relief, charity, good works. Now let us put
it like this. On the most modest computation, reckoning seven kopecks a
soul and five souls a family, one needs three hundred and fifty roubles
a day to feed a thousand families. That sum is fixed by our practical
duty to a thousand families. Meanwhile we give not thr