letter.

I was devoured by curiosity. Where am I going, thought I, if not to
Saint Petersburg? I did not take my eyes from the pen which my father
moved slowly across the paper.

At last, the letter finished, he put it and my certificate under the
same envelope, took off his spectacles, called me and said:

"This letter is addressed to Andrew Karlovitch, my old friend and
comrade. You are going to Orenbourg to serve under orders."

All my brilliant dreams vanished. In place of the gay life of Saint
Petersburg, ennui awaited me in a wild and distant province of the
empire. Military life seemed now a calamity.

The next morning a kibitka was at the door; my trunk was placed on it,
and also a case holding tea and a tea-service, with some napkins full
of rolls and pastry, the last sweet bits of the paternal home. Both my
parents gave me their solemn benediction. My father said, "Adieu, Peter.
Serve faithfully him to whom your oath is given; obey your chiefs;
neither seek favor, nor solicit service, but do not reject them; and
remember the proverb: 'Take care of thy coat whilst it is new, and thy
honor whilst it is fresh.'"

My darling mother, all in tears, told me to take care of my health; and
counseled Saveliitch to guard her child from danger.

I was wrapped up in a short touloup lined with hare-skin, and over that
a pelisse lined fox-skin. I took my seat in the kibitka with Saveliitch,
and shedding bitter tears, set out for my destination.

That night I arrived at Simbirsk, where I was to stay twenty-four hours,
in order that Saveliitch might make various purchases entrusted to him.
Early in the morning Saveliitch went to the shops, whilst I stayed in
the inn. Tired of gazing out of the window upon a dirty little street,
I rambled about the inn, and at last entered the billiard-room. I
found there a tall gentleman, some forty years of age, with heavy black
moustaches, in his dressing-gown, holding a cue and smoking his pipe.
He was playing with the marker, who was to drink a glass of brandy and
water if he gained, and if he lost was to pass, on all-fours, under the
billiard table. I watched them playing. The more they played the more
frequent became the promenades on all-fours, so that finally the marker
stayed under the table. The gentleman pronounced over him some energetic
expression, as a funeral oration, and then proposed that I should play
a game with him. I declared that I did not know how to play billiar