rived at an instinctive understanding--an
understanding to the effect that the barin was sound asleep, and that
therefore one might consider one's own pleasure a little. Accordingly
Petrushka proceeded to restore the coat and trousers to their appointed
places, and then descended the stairs; whereafter he and Selifan left
the house together. Not a word passed between them as to the object
of their expedition. On the contrary, they talked solely of extraneous
subjects. Yet their walk did not take them far; it took them only to
the other side of the street, and thence into an establishment which
immediately confronted the inn. Entering a mean, dirty courtyard covered
with glass, they passed thence into a cellar where a number of customers
were seated around small wooden tables. What thereafter was done by
Selifan and Petrushka God alone knows. At all events, within an hour's
time they issued, arm in arm, and in profound silence, yet remaining
markedly assiduous to one another, and ever ready to help one another
around an awkward corner. Still linked together--never once releasing
their mutual hold--they spent the next quarter of an hour in attempting
to negotiate the stairs of the inn; but at length even that ascent had
been mastered, and they proceeded further on their way. Halting
before his mean little pallet, Petrushka stood awhile in thought. His
difficulty was how best to assume a recumbent position. Eventually he
lay down on his face, with his legs trailing over the floor; after which
Selifan also stretched himself upon the pallet, with his head resting
upon Petrushka's stomach, and his mind wholly oblivious of the fact that
he ought not to have been sleeping there at all, but in the servant's
quarters, or in the stable beside his horses. Scarcely a moment had
passed before the pair were plunged in slumber and emitting the most
raucous snores; to which their master (next door) responded with snores
of a whistling and nasal order. Indeed, before long every one in the
inn had followed their soothing example, and the hostelry lay plunged
in complete restfulness. Only in the window of the room of the
newly-arrived lieutenant from Riazan did a light remain burning.
Evidently he was a devotee of boots, for he had purchased four pairs,
and was now trying on a fifth. Several times he approached the bed with
a view to taking off the boots and retiring to rest; but each time he
failed, for the reason that the boots were so all