"It is of no consequence after all; he will soon be dead!" And he would say to himself: "I shall soon be gone!" He was a quiet humorist and also tried to relieve the dullness of the workshop by jokes, hanging down his dark bony face, and saying in a wheezy voice: "Listen, people, to the voice of one who ascended to the loft. "In the loft I live, Early do I wake; Asleep or awake Cockroaches devour me." "He is not downhearted!" exclaimed his audience. Sometimes Pavl and I went to him, and he joked with difficulty. "With what shall I regale you, my dear guests? A fresh little spider--would you like that?" He died slowly, and he grew very weary of it. He said with unfeigned vexation: "It seems that I can't die, somehow; it is really a calamity!" His fearlessness in the face of death frightened Pavl very much. He awoke me in the night and whispered: "Maximich, he seems to be dying. Suppose he dies in the night, when we are lying beneath him--Oh, Lord! I am frightened of dead people." Or he would say: "Why was he born? Not twenty-two years have passed over his head and he is dying." Once, on a moonlight night he awoke, and gazing with wide-open, terrified eyes said: "Listen!" Davidov was croaking in the loft, saying quickly and clearly: "Give it to me--give--" Then he began to hiccup. "He is dying, by God he is; you see!" said Pavl agitatedly. I had been carrying snow from the yard into the fields all day, and I was very sleepy, but Pavl begged me: "Don't go to sleep, please; for Christ's sake don't go to sleep!" And suddenly getting on to his knees, he cried frenziedly: "Get up! Davidov is dead!" Some of them awoke; several figures rose from the beds; angry voices were raised, asking questions. Kapendiukhin climbed up into the loft and said in a tone of amazement: "It is a fact; he is dead, although he is still warm." It was quiet now. Jikharev crossed himself, and wrapping himself round in his blanket, said: "Well, he is in the Kingdom of Heaven now!" Some one suggested: "Let us carry him into the vestibule." Kapendiukhin climbed down from the loft and glanced through the window. "Let him lie where he is till the morning; he never hurt any one while he was alive." Pavl, hiding his head under the pillow, sobbed. But Sitanov did not even wake! CHAPTER XV