"No, I don't want to be a priest," answered Peredonov. "I'm afraid of the incense--it makes me feel sick and giddy." "Well, if that's the case, why don't you join the police," advised Skouchayev. "You might, for example, become a Commissioner of Police. Do you mind telling me what your rank is?" "I'm a State Councillor," said Peredonov importantly. "Well, well!" exclaimed Skouchayev in surprise. "You certainly get high rank in your profession--and all that because you teach the youngsters? That shows knowledge is something! Though nowadays there are certain gentlemen who attack it, still we can't do without it. Though I only went to a District school, I am sending my boy to a University. When you send him to a _gymnasia_ you have to force him to go, sometimes with a birch, but he'll go to a University of his own free will. Let me say that I never birch him, but if he gets lazy or does something naughty, I simply take him by the shoulders to the window--there are birch trees in the garden. I point to the trees--'Do you see that?' I say to him. 'I see, papa,' he says; 'I won't do it again!' And true enough it helps--the youngster mends his ways as if he'd actually been whipped. Ah, those children! those children!" concluded Skouchayev with a sigh. Peredonov remained two hours at Skouchayev's. The business talk was followed by abundant hospitality. Skouchayev regaled him--as he did everything else--very solidly, as if he were conducting an important affair. At the same time he tried to introduce some ingenious tricks into his hospitality. They brought punch in large glasses like coffee, and the host called it his "little coffee." The vodka glasses looked as if the foot had been broken off and the stem sharpened so that they would not stand upright on the table. "Now I call these, 'Pour in and pour out,'" exclaimed the host. Then the merchant Tishkov arrived, a small, grey-haired, brisk and cheerful man in very long boots. He drank a great deal of vodka and said all sorts of absurdities in rhyme[1], briskly and gaily, and it was obvious that he was very satisfied with himself. Peredonov decided at last that it was time to go home, and he rose to take his leave. "Don't be in such a hurry," said the host, "stay a while." "Stay a while and help us smile," said Tishkov. "No, it's time to leave," replied Peredonov with a preoccupied air. "It's time to leave or his cousin'll grieve," said Tishkov and winked at Skouchayev. "Just now I'm a busy man," said Peredonov. "He who's a busy man we praise him all we can," answered Tishkov promptly. Skouchayev escorted Peredonov to the hall. They embraced and kissed each other at parting. Peredonov was pleased with his visit. "The Mayor's on my side," he thought confidently. When he returned to Tishkov, Skouchayev said: "They gossip about that youth."