The dark twining corridor was strewn with rubbish, for no one had the will or wish to keep it neat. Anna Andreevna rummaged by the stove of Sergius Andreevich, Lina's husband, looking among the papers and sweepings. She peered into the stove and discovered that Leontyevna, the maid--a one-eyed Cyclop--had filled it with birch-wood, whereas it had been agreed that the rotting timber from the summer-house should be used as fuel first. After enjoying a cigarette of his "own" tobacco, the general went out to the courtyard for firewood, returning with a bundle of sticks from the summer-house. The samovar was now ready and he sat down to his tea, leisurely drinking glass after glass, while Anna Andreevna heated her stove in the corridor. A dim, wintry dawn was gradually breaking. The family of Sergius--the former head of a ministerial department--could be heard rousing themselves behind the wall. "You have had sufficient albumen; take hydrates now," rose Lina's voice, calling to her children. "Potatoes?" "Yes." "And fat?" "You have had enough fat." The general smiled craftily, then muttered grumpily: "That is not eating, that is scientific alimentation." He cut himself a piece of bacon, ate it with some white bread, and drank more tea with sweet root and candied melon. Gradually the occupants of the house roused themselves and half- dressed, sleepy--carrying their towels, empty samovars, and tooth brushes--they began to pass along the corridor in front of the general's open door. Kirill Lvovich eyed them maliciously as he sat drinking his tea and inwardly cursed them all. The Cyclop, Leontyevna, Sergius Andreevich's servant, tramped in heavily with her man's boots from the Labour Exchange; her solitary eye peered searchingly into Anna Andreevna's stove. "I'll see she's not deceiving us over the firewood," she shouted aggressively: "Oh, what a store she's got!" "But you have used the birch-wood," the general hit back from his room. The Cyclop flew into a rage and slapped her thighs. One of the periodic scenes ensued. "What?" Leontyevna cried, "I am not trusted, I am being spied on! Lina Fedorovna, I am going to complain to the Exchange." Lina Fedorovna joined in from behind her door. "She isn't trusted, she is being spied on," she echoed, "there must be spies in this house! And they call themselves intellectual people!" "But you took the birch-wood!" protested Lvovich. "And they call themselves intellectual!" screamed Lina. The general came out into the passage and said severely: "It is not for _us_ to judge, Lina Fedorovna. We are not the heirs here. But it seems strange to me that Sergius should occupy three rooms, and Anna only one--yes, very strange indeed."