But Ephimushka was not like a beggar at all. He stood firmly, like a squat tree-trunk; his voice rang out like a challenge; his words became more and more alluring; the women listened to him in silence. In fact, it seemed as if his whole being was flowing away in a tender, narcotic speech. It ended in his saying to his mates in a tone of astonishment at supper-time, or after the Sabbath rest, shaking his heavy, angular head: "Well, what a sweet little woman, a dear little thing! I have never before come across anything like her!" When he spoke of his conquests Ephimushka was not boastful, nor jeered at the victim of his charms, as the others always did. He was only joyfully and gratefully touched, his gray eyes wide open with astonishment. Osip, shaking his head, exclaimed: "Oh, you incorrigible fellow! How old are you?" "Forty-four years, but that's nothing! I have grown five years younger to-day, as if I had bathed in the healing water of a river. I feel thoroughly fit, and my heart is at peace! Some women can produce that effect, eh?" The bricklayer said coarsely: "You are going on for fifty. You had better be careful, or you will find that your loose way of life will leave a bitter taste." "You are shameless, Ephimushka!" sighed Grigori Shishlin. And it seemed to me that the handsome fellow envied the success of the humpback. Osip looked round on us all from under his level silver brows, and said jestingly: "Every Mashka has her fancies. One will love cups and spoons, another buckles and ear-rings, but all Mashkas will be grandmothers in time." Shishlin was married, but his wife was living in the country, so he also cast his eyes on the floor-scrubbers. They were all of them easy of approach. All of them "earned a bit" to add to their income, and they regarded this method of earning money in that poverty-stricken area as simply as they would have regarded any other kind of work. But the handsome workman never approached the women. He just gazed at them from afar with a peculiar expression, as if he were pitying some one--himself or them. But when they began to sport with him and tempt him, he laughed bashfully and went away. "Well, you--" "What's the matter with you, you fool?" asked Ephimushka, amazed. "Do you mean to say you are going to lose the chance?" "I am a married man," Grigori reminded him. "Well, do you think your wife will know anything about it?" "My wife would always know if I lived unchastely. I can't deceive her, my brother." "How can she know?" "That I can't say, but she is bound to know, while she lives chaste herself; and if I lead a chaste life, and she were to sin, I should know it." "But how?" cried Ephimushka, but Grigori repeated calmly: "That I can't say." The slater waved his hands agitatedly. "There, if you please! Chaste, and does n't know! Oh, you blockhead!"