Meanwhile there was a perfect stillness in the air. Only rarely there came a gust of wind, which, as it sank for the last time near the house, brought to our ears the sound of rhythmically repeated blows, seeming to come from the stable. Mardary Apollonitch was in the act of lifting a saucer full of tea to his lips, and was just inflating his nostrils to sniff its fragrance--no true-born Russian, as we all know, can drink his tea without this preliminary--but he stopped short, listened, nodded his head, sipped his tea, and laying the saucer on the table, with the most good-natured smile imaginable, he murmured as though involuntarily accompanying the blows: 'Tchuki-tchuki-tchuk! Tchuki-tchuk!' 'What is it?' I asked puzzled. 'Oh, by my order, they're punishing a scamp of a fellow.... Do you happen to remember Vasya, who waits at the sideboard?' 'Which Vasya?' 'Why, that waited on us at dinner just now. He with the long whiskers.' The fiercest indignation could not have stood against the clear mild gaze of Mardary Apollonitch. 'What are you after, young man? what is it?' he said, shaking his head. 'Am I a criminal or something, that you stare at me like that? "Whom he loveth he chasteneth"; you know that.' A quarter of an hour later I had taken leave of Mardary Apollonitch. As I was driving through the village I caught sight of Vasya. He was walking down the village street, cracking nuts. I told the coachman to stop the horses and called him up. 'Well, my boy, so they've been punishing you to-day?' I said to him. 'How did you know?' answered Vasya. 'Your master told me.' 'The master himself?' 'What did he order you to be punished for?' 'Oh, I deserved it, father; I deserved it. They don't punish for trifles among us; that's not the way with us--no, no. Our master's not like that; our master ... you won't find another master like him in all the province.' 'Drive on!' I said to the coachman.' There you have it, old Russia!' I mused on my homeward way. XIV LEBEDYAN