"As you please," said Vershina, and changing the subject at once, she remarked with a laugh: "I get very tired of Cherepnin." Marta also laughed. Peredonov looked indifferent: he did not take any interest in other people's lives--he did not care for people and he never thought of them except as they might contribute to his own benefit and pleasure. Vershina smiled with self-satisfaction and said: "He thinks that I will marry him." "He's very cheeky," said Marta, not because she thought so, but because she wished to please and flatter Vershina. "Last night he looked into our window," related Vershina. "He got into the garden while we were at supper. There was a rain-tub under the window, full of water. It was covered with a plank. The water was hidden. He climbed on the tub and looked in the window. As the lamp on the table was lighted he could see us, but we couldn't see him. Suddenly we heard a noise. We were frightened at first and ran outside. The plank had slipped and he had fallen into the water. However, he climbed out before we got there and ran away, leaving wet tracks on the path. We recognised him by his back." Marta laughed shrilly and happily like a good-natured child. Vershina told this in her usual quick, monotonous voice and then was suddenly silent, and smiled at the corners of her mouth, which puckered up her smooth, dry face. The smoke-darkened teeth showed themselves slightly. Peredonov reflected a moment and suddenly burst into a laugh. He did not always respond at once to what he thought was funny--his receptivity was sluggish and dull. Vershina smoked one cigarette after another. She could not live without tobacco smoke under her nose. "We'll soon be neighbours," announced Peredonov. Vershina glanced quickly at Marta, who flushed slightly and looked at Peredonov with a timorous air of expectation, and then at once turned away towards the garden. "So you're moving?" asked Vershina; "why?" "It's too far from the _gymnasia_," explained Peredonov. Vershina smiled incredulously. It's more likely, she thought, he wants to be nearer Marta. "But you've lived there for several years," she said. "Yes," said Peredonov angrily. "And the landlady's a swine." "Why?" asked Vershina, with an ambiguous smile. Peredonov grew somewhat animated. "She's repapered the rooms most damnably," he exclaimed, "one piece doesn't match another. When you open the dining-room door you find quite another pattern. Most of the room has bunches of large and small flowers, while behind the door there is a pattern of stripes and nails. And the colours are different too. We shouldn't have noticed it, if Falastov had not come and laughed. And everybody laughs at it." "It certainly must be ridiculous," agreed Vershina. "We're not telling her that we're going to leave," said Peredonov, and at this he lowered his voice. "We're going to find new apartments and we shall go without giving notice." "Of course," said Vershina.