est
every summer."

"Oh, do get into the water quickly or cover yourself with something,
you beast."

"And if only she were confused, the nasty thing," said Gryabov,
crossing himself as he waded into the water. "Brrrr . . . the water's
cold. . . . Look how she moves her eyebrows! She doesn't go away
. . . she is far above the crowd! He, he, he . . . . and she doesn't
reckon us as human beings."

Wading knee deep in the water and drawing his huge figure up to its
full height, he gave a wink and said:

"This isn't England, you see!"

Miss Fyce coolly put on another worm, gave a yawn, and dropped the
hook in. Otsov turned away, Gryabov released his hook, ducked into
the water and, spluttering, waded out. Two minutes later he was
sitting on the sand and angling as before.

CHORISTERS

THE Justice of the Peace, who had received a letter from Petersburg,
had set the news going that the owner of Yefremovo, Count Vladimir
Ivanovitch, would soon be arriving. When he would arrive--there
was no saying.

"Like a thief in the night," said Father Kuzma, a grey-headed little
priest in a lilac cassock. "And when he does come the place will
be crowded with the nobility and other high gentry. All the neighbours
will flock here. Mind now, do your best, Alexey Alexeitch. . . . I
beg you most earnestly."

"You need not trouble about me," said Alexey Alexeitch, frowning.
"I know my business. If only my enemy intones the litany in the
right key. He may . . . out of sheer spite. . . ."

"There, there. . . . I'll persuade the deacon. . . I'll persuade
him."

Alexey Alexeitch was the sacristan of the Yefremovo church. He also
taught the schoolboys church and secular singing, for which he
received sixty roubles a year from the revenues of the Count's
estate. The schoolboys were bound to sing in church in return for
their teaching. Alexey Alexeitch was a tall, thick-set man of
dignified deportment, with a fat, clean-shaven face that reminded
one of a cow's udder. His imposing figure and double chin made him
look like a man occupying an important position in the secular
hierarchy rather than a sacristan. It was strange to see him, so
dignified and imposing, flop to the ground before the bishop and,
on one occasion, after too loud a squabble with the deacon Yevlampy
Avdiessov, remain on his knees for two hours by order of the head
priest of the district. Grandeur was more in keeping with his figure
than humiliation.

On account