lty in believing it; he will
not be at all surprised."

"Do you hear, prince--do you hear that?" said Lizabetha Prokofievna,
turning towards him.

There was laughter in the group around her, and Lebedeff stood before
her gesticulating wildly.

"He declares that your humbug of a landlord revised this gentleman's
article--the article that was read aloud just now--in which you got such
a charming dressing-down."

The prince regarded Lebedeff with astonishment.

"Why don't you say something?" cried Lizabetha Prokofievna, stamping her
foot.

"Well," murmured the prince, with his eyes still fixed on Lebedeff, "I
can see now that he did."

"Is it true?" she asked eagerly.

"Absolutely, your excellency," said Lebedeff, without the least
hesitation.

Mrs. Epanchin almost sprang up in amazement at his answer, and at the
assurance of his tone.

"He actually seems to boast of it!" she cried.

"I am base--base!" muttered Lebedeff, beating his breast, and hanging
his head.

"What do I care if you are base or not? He thinks he has only to say,
'I am base,' and there is an end of it. As to you, prince, are you not
ashamed?--I repeat, are you not ashamed, to mix with such riff-raff? I
will never forgive you!"

"The prince will forgive me!" said Lebedeff with emotional conviction.

Keller suddenly left his seat, and approached Lizabetha. Prokofievna.

"It was only out of generosity, madame," he said in a resonant voice,
"and because I would not betray a friend in an awkward position, that
I did not mention this revision before; though you heard him yourself
threatening to kick us down the steps. To clear the matter up, I declare
now that I did have recourse to his assistance, and that I paid him six
roubles for it. But I did not ask him to correct my style; I simply went
to him for information concerning the facts, of which I was ignorant
to a great extent, and which he was competent to give. The story of the
gaiters, the appetite in the Swiss professor's house, the substitution
of fifty roubles for two hundred and fifty--all such details, in fact,
were got from him. I paid him six roubles for them; but he did not
correct the style."

"I must state that I only revised the first part of the article,"
interposed Lebedeff with feverish impatience, while laughter rose from
all around him; "but we fell out in the middle over one idea, so I never
corrected the second part. Therefore I cannot be held responsible for
the n