He thought the matter over, and then he made me a proposition. "As you have chosen your own place of residence, perhaps, if we do not please you, you will go further on. There are many other towns for choice--Orel, Kursk, Smolensk for example. After all it is all the same to you where you live. Wouldn't it be agreeable to you if we passed you on? It would be quite a relief to us not to have the bother of looking after your health. We have such a mass of business here, and you--pardon my candour--seem to be a man fully capable of increasing the cares of the police; nay, you even seem to me expressly made for the purpose. Well now," says he, "would you like me to give you a _treshnetsa_[4] to assist you on your way?" [4] A small Russian coin. "You seem to appraise your duties somewhat cheaply," said I, "I think it would be better if you let me remain here under the protection of the laws of Tula." But he obstinately refused to take me even as a gift. He was an odd sort of chap! Well, I got fifteen roubles out of him, and went on to the town of Smolensk. You see! The most awkward position contains within it the possibility of something better. I affirm this on the basis of solid experience and on the strength of my deep faith in the dexterity of the human mind. Mind--that's the power! You are still a young man, and what I say to you is this: believe in mind and you shall never fall! Know that every man holds within him a fool and a rogue; the fool is his senses, the rogue is his mind. His senses are the fool because they are upright, just, and cannot dissemble, and how is it possible to live without dissimulation? It is indispensable to dissemble; it is necessary to do so even from compassion, and most of all when they--your senses of course--pity others. So I walked into Smolensk, feeling that the ground was firm beneath me, and that on the one hand I could always count upon the support of humane people, and on the other hand I was always sure of the support of the Police. I was necessary to the first for the display of their feelings, and to the second I was unnecessary--therefore they and others were bound to pay me out of their superfluities. That's how it was then! So I went along and fell quite in love with myself. My prospects were excellent. I fell in with a little muzhik. He looked up and asked: "You will be one of the Enquiry-Agents, I suppose?" "Enquiry-Agents," I thought, "what does he mean?"--but I answered: "Yes, of course I am!" "Did you come along the Trepovka Road?" he asked. "Yes, along the Trepovka," I answered. "And will you hire the folks soon?" he said. "Very soon," said I. "Listen, will they take deposits?" "They will." "Have you heard how much per head?" "Yes, about two griveniki[5] per head." "Laws!" said the little muzhik.