but not putrid. There are ponds in the steppes
which never get putrid, although there is no stream flowing through
them, because they have springs at the bottom. My old people have their
springs flowing in the depths of their hearts, as pure and as fresh
as can be. The question is this: do you want to see how people lived
a hundred or a hundred and fifty years ago? If so, then make haste and
follow me. Or soon the day, the hour will come--it's bound to be the
same hour for them both--when my little parrots will be thrown off their
little perches--and everything antique will end with them. The squat
little house will tumble down and the place where it stood will be
overgrown with that which, according to my grandmother, always grows
over the spot where man's handiwork has been--that is, nettles, burdock,
thistles, wormwood, and dock leaves. The very street will cease to
be--other people will come and never will they see anything like it
again, never, through all the long ages!"

"Well," Nejdanov exclaimed, "let us go at once!"

"With the greatest of pleasure," Solomin added. "That sort of thing is
not in my line, still it will be interesting, and if Mr. Paklin really
thinks that we shall not be putting anyone out by our visit... then...
why not--"

"You may be at ease on that score!" Paklin exclaimed in his turn. "They
will be delighted to see you--and nothing more. You need not be on
ceremony. I told you--they were blessed ones. We will get them to sing
to us! Will you come too, Mr. Markelov?"

Markelov shrugged his shoulders impatiently.

"You can hardly leave me here alone! We may as well go, I suppose." The
young people rose from the seat.

"What a forbidding individual that is you have with you," Paklin
whispered to Nejdanov, indicating Markelov. "The very image of John the
Baptist eating locusts... only locusts, without the honey! But the other
is splendid!" he added, with a nod of the head in Solomin's direction.
"What a delightful smile he has! I've noticed that people smile like
that only when they are far above others, but without knowing it
themselves."

"Are there really such people?" Nejdanov asked.

"They are scarce, but there are," Paklin replied.

XIX

FOMISHKA and Fimishka, otherwise Foma Lavrentievitch and Efimia Pavlovna
Subotchev, belonged to one of the oldest and purest branches of the
Russian nobility, and were considered to be the oldest inhabitants in
the town of S. They marr