looked at him and there was a sinister gleam
in his half-closed eyes.

"May I come with you?" Kollomietzev asked. "You know I'm always ready to
learn."

"Certainly, if you like."

They went out of the courtyard into the road and had scarcely taken
twenty steps when they ran across a priest in a woven cassock, who was
wending his way homeward. Kollomietzev left his two companions and,
going up to him with long, firm strides, asked for his blessing and gave
him a sounding smack on his moist, red hand, much to the discomfiture
of the priest, who did not in the least expect this sort of outburst.
He then turned to Solomin and gave him a defiant look. He had evidently
heard something about him and wanted to show off and get some fun out of
this learned scoundrel.

"C'est une manifestation, mon cher?" Sipiagin muttered through his
teeth.

Kollomietzev giggled.

"Oui, mon cher, une manifestation necessaire par temps qui court!"

They got to the factory and were met by a Little Russian with an
enormous beard and false teeth, who had taken the place of the former
manager, a German, whom Sipiagin had dismissed. This man was there in a
temporary capacity and understood absolutely nothing; he merely kept
on saying "Just so... yes... that's it," and sighing all the time. They
began inspecting the place. Several of the workmen knew Solomin by sight
and bowed to him. He even called out to one of them, "Hallo, Gregory!
You here?" Solomin was soon convinced that the place was going badly.
Money was simply thrown away for no reason whatever. The machines turned
out to be of a very poor kind; many of them were quite superfluous and
a great many necessary ones were lacking. Sipiagin kept looking
into Solomin's face, trying to guess his opinion, asked a few timid
questions, wanted to know if he was at any rate satisfied with the order
of the place.

"Oh, the order is all right," Solomin replied, "but I doubt if you can
get anything out of it."

Not only Sipiagin, but even Kollomietzev felt, that in the factory
Solomin was quite at home, was familiar with every little detail, was
master there in fact. He laid his hand on a machine as a rider on his
horse's neck; he poked a wheel with his finger and it either stood still
or began whirling round; he took some paper pulp out of a vat and it
instantly revealed all its defects.

Solomin said very little, took no notice of the Little Russian at all,
and went out without saying anyth