because he was hungry and wanted
to earn money, but simply from shame and _amour propre_, because
he had been taken at his word. It was clear, too, that he was
suffering from the effects of vodka, that he was unwell, and felt
not the faintest inclination to work.

Skvortsov hurried into the dining-room. There from the window which
looked out into the yard he could see the woodshed and everything
that happened in the yard. Standing at the window, Skvortsov saw
the cook and the beggar come by the back way into the yard and go
through the muddy snow to the woodshed. Olga scrutinized her companion
angrily, and jerking her elbow unlocked the woodshed and angrily
banged the door open.

"Most likely we interrupted the woman drinking her coffee," thought
Skvortsov. "What a cross creature she is!"

Then he saw the pseudo-schoolmaster and pseudo-student seat himself
on a block of wood, and, leaning his red cheeks upon his fists,
sink into thought. The cook flung an axe at his feet, spat angrily
on the ground, and, judging by the expression of her lips, began
abusing him. The beggar drew a log of wood towards him irresolutely,
set it up between his feet, and diffidently drew the axe across it.
The log toppled and fell over. The beggar drew it towards him,
breathed on his frozen hands, and again drew the axe along it as
cautiously as though he were afraid of its hitting his golosh or
chopping off his fingers. The log fell over again.

Skvortsov's wrath had passed off by now, he felt sore and ashamed
at the thought that he had forced a pampered, drunken, and perhaps
sick man to do hard, rough work in the cold.

"Never mind, let him go on . . ." he thought, going from the
dining-room into his study. "I am doing it for his good!"

An hour later Olga appeared and announced that the wood had been
chopped up.

"Here, give him half a rouble," said Skvortsov. "If he likes, let
him come and chop wood on the first of every month. . . . There
will always be work for him."

On the first of the month the beggar turned up and again earned
half a rouble, though he could hardly stand. From that time forward
he took to turning up frequently, and work was always found for
him: sometimes he would sweep the snow into heaps, or clear up the
shed, at another he used to beat the rugs and the mattresses. He
always received thirty to forty kopecks for his work, and on one
occasion an old pair of trousers was sent out to him.

When he moved, S