Whenever he hit the ball, he always glanced around, and reddened. Not so the prince. He was used to it; he chalked and chalked his hand, tucked up his sleeve; he goes and sits down when he pockets the ball, even though he is such a little man. They played two or three games; then I notice the prince puts up the cue, and says, "Would you mind telling me your name?" "Nekhliudof," says he. Says the prince, "Was your father commander in the corps of cadets?" "Yes," says the other. Then they began to talk in French, and I could not understand them. I suppose they were talking about family affairs. "_Au revoir_," says the prince. "I am very glad to have made your acquaintance." He washed his hands, and went to get a lunch; but the other stood by the billiard-table with his cue, and was knocking the balls about. It's our business, you know, when a new man comes along, to be rather sharp: it's the best way. I took the balls, and go to put them up. He reddened, and says, "Can't I play any longer?" "Certainly you can," says I. "That's what billiards is for." But I don't pay any attention to him. I straighten the cues. "Will you play with me?" "Certainly, sir," says I. I place the balls. "Shall we play for odds?" "What do you mean,--'play for odds'?" "Well," says I, "you give me a half-ruble, and I crawl under the table." Of course, as he had never seen that sort of thing, it seemed strange to him: he laughs. "Go ahead," says he. "Very well," says I, "only you must give me odds." "What!" says he, "are you a worse player than I am?" "Most likely," says I. "We have few players who can be compared with you." We began to play. He certainly had the idea that he was a crack shot. It was a caution to see him shoot; but the Pole sat there, and kept shouting out every time,-- "Ah, what a chance! ah, what a shot!" But what a man he was! His ideas were good enough, but he didn't know how to carry them out. Well, as usual I lost the first game, crawled under the table, and grunted. Thereupon Oliver and the Pole jumped down from their seats, and applauded, thumping with their cues. "Splendid! Do it again," they cried, "once more." Well enough to cry "once more," especially for the Pole. That fellow would have been glad enough to crawl under the billiard-table, or even under the Blue bridge, for a half-ruble! Yet he was the first to cry, "Splendid! but you haven't wiped off all the dust yet." I, Petrushka the marker, was pretty well known to everybody. Only, of course, I did not care to show my hand yet. I lost my second game. "It does not become me at all to play with you, sir," says I. He laughs. Then, as I was playing the third game, he stood forty-nine and I nothing. I laid the cue on the billiard-table, and said, "Bárin, shall we play off?" "What do you mean by playing off?" says he. "How would you have it?" "You make it three rubles or nothing," says I. "Why," says he, "have I been playing with you for money?" The fool!