"They've done you some harm and you ought to pay them back. A strong sorcerer has made the spell, but I am more cunning and I will outdo him and I'll get the better of him." And for a long time she recited her spells over the hat, and having received generous gifts from Ershova she told her that she was to give the hat to a young man with red hair, and that he should take it to Peredonov's house, give it to the first person he met there and then run away without turning round. As it happened, the first red-haired boy whom Ershova met was one of the locksmith's sons, who had a grudge against Peredonov for revealing their nocturnal prank. He took with great satisfaction the five-kopeck piece Ershova gave him, and on the way he spat zealously into the hat on his own account. He met Varvara herself in the dark hall of Peredonov's house. He stuck the hat into her hand and ran away so quickly that Varvara had not time to recognise him. Peredonov had barely time enough to blind the last knave, when Varvara entered his room, astonished and rather frightened, and said in a trembling voice: "Ardalyon Borisitch! Look at this!" Peredonov looked and almost fell over in his terror. The very hat which he had tried to get rid of was now in Varvara's hands, all crumpled up, dusty, with scarcely a trace of its former magnificence. He asked, panting with fear: "Where did it come from?" Varvara recounted in a frightened voice how she had received the hat from a nimble boy who seemed to rise from the ground in front of her and then vanish into it again. She said: "It must be Ershikha. She has thrown a spell on to your hat. There can't be any doubt about it." Peredonov mumbled something incoherent, and his teeth chattered with fear. Gloomy fears and forebodings tormented him. He walked up and down frowning and the grey nedotikomka ran under the chairs and sniggered. The guests arrived early. They brought many tarts, apples and pears to the house warming. Varvara accepted everything gladly, saying, merely from politeness: "Why did you take the trouble to bring such lovely things?" But if she thought that someone had brought something poor or cheap she felt angry. She was also displeased when two guests brought the same thing. They lost no time, but sat down at once to play cards. They played stoukolka. "Good heavens!" exclaimed Grushina suddenly. "I've got a blind king!" "And my queen has no eyes," said Prepolovenskaya, examining her cards. "And the knave too!" The guests laughingly examined their cards. Prepolovensky said: "I wondered why these cards kept catching each other. That's the reason. I kept feeling. Why is it, I thought, that they have such rough backs? Now I see it comes from these little holes. That's it--it's the backs that are rough!" Everyone laughed except Peredonov, who looked morose. Varvara said with a smile: "You know my Ardalyon Borisitch has strange whims. He's always thinking of different tricks."