"You have enough nettles here. Don't you find any use for them?" Varvara laughed and answered: "What an idea! What could I do with them?" "If you don't mind, I'd like to take some with me, as I haven't any." "What will you do with them?" asked Varvara, in astonishment. "Oh, I'll find a use for them," said Prepolovenskaya, smiling. "But, my dear, do tell me for what?" entreated Varvara, inquisitively. Prepolovenskaya, bending towards Varvara, whispered in her ear: "By rubbing your body with nettles, you keep fat. That's why my Genichka is so plump." It was well known that Peredonov preferred fat women, and that he detested thin ones. Varvara was distressed because she was thin and was growing still thinner. How could she get a little plumper?--was one of her chief worries. She used to ask everyone: "Do you know any remedy for thinness?" And now Prepolovenskaya was convinced that Varvara would follow her suggestion and rub herself with nettles, and in this way be her own punisher. [1] Pisarev (1840-68), a revolutionary writer and a precursor of Nihilism. [2] A kind of rice pudding eaten at funerals in Russia. [3] _Zhamochki_, an apparently invented word, meaning something particularly nice to eat. CHAPTER III Peredonov and Ershova went out into the open. He growled: "Come this way." She shouted with all her might, though gaily. They were apparently getting ready to dance. Prepolovenskaya and Varvara passed through the kitchen into another room, where they sat down at the window to see what would happen. Peredonov and Ershova embraced each other, and began to dance around the pear tree. Peredonov's face remained dull as before and did not express anything. Mechanically, as upon an automaton, his golden-rimmed spectacles sprang up and down his nose, and his hair flopped up and down on his head. Ershova screamed, shouted, waved her arms, and at times reeled. She shouted to Varvara, whom she espied at the window: "Hey you, don't be such a lady, come out and dance. Are you disgusted with our company?" Varvara turned away. "The deuce take you! I'm dead tired," shouted Ershova, and fell back on the grass, drawing down Peredonov with her. They sat a while in each other's embrace, then got up and once more began to dance. This they repeated several times: now they danced, now they rested under the pear tree, upon the bench, or simply on the grass. Volodin enjoyed himself thoroughly, as he watched the dancers from the window. He roared with laughter, made extraordinarily funny faces, and bent his body in two. He shouted: "They're cracked! How funny!" "Accursed carrion!" said Varvara angrily. "Yes, carrion," agreed Volodin with a grin. "Just wait, my dear landlady, I'll show you something! Let's go and make a mess in the parlour too. She won't come back again to-day anyhow, she'll tire herself out and go home to sleep." He burst into his bleating laughter and jumped about like a great ram. Prepolovenskaya encouraged him: