"Ardalyon Borisitch, how is that you're strolling about with your badge nowadays? That comes of having an inspectorship in view." "Will the soldiers have to salute you now?" asked Valeria with pretended ingenuousness. "What nonsense!" said Peredonov angrily. "You don't understand, Valerotchka," said Darya. "Why do you say soldiers! But Ardalyon Borisitch will get a great deal more respect from his pupils now than before." Liudmilla laughed. Peredonov made haste to take leave of them in order to get away from their sarcasms. It was too early to go to Pilnikov and he had no desire to go home. Peredonov walked about the dark streets wondering how he could waste an hour. There were many houses, and lights shone from many windows, sometimes voices could be heard from the open windows. The church-goers walked in the streets, and gates and doors could be heard opening and shutting. All around lived people, strange and hostile to Peredonov, and it was possible that at this very moment some of them were devising evil against him. Perhaps someone was wondering why he walked alone at this late hour and where he was going. It seemed to Peredonov that someone was following him stealthily. He began to feel depressed. He walked on hurriedly and aimlessly. He thought that every house here had its dead. And that all who lived in the old houses fifty years ago were now dead. Some of the dead he still remembered. When a man dies his house should be burnt afterwards, thought Peredonov dejectedly, because it makes one feel horribly. * * * * * Olga Vassilyevna Kokovkina, with whom Sasha Pilnikov lived, was a paymaster's widow. Her husband had left her a pension and a small house, which was sufficiently large to accommodate two or three lodgers, but she gave preference to students. It so happened that the quietest boys were always placed at her house, those who studied diligently and completed their courses. At other students' lodgings there were a considerable number of boys who went from one school to another and always left their studies unfinished. Olga Vassilyevna, a lean, tall and erect old woman with a good-natured face, to which, however, she tried to give a stern expression; and Sasha Pilnikov, a well-fed youngster, carefully trained by his aunt, sat at the supper table. That evening it was Sasha's turn to supply the jam, which he had bought in the village, and therefore he felt as if he were the host and ceremoniously attended to Olga Vassilyevna, and his black eyes shone brightly. A ring at the door was heard--and a moment afterwards Peredonov appeared in the dining-room. Kokovkina was astonished at such a late visit. "I've come to take a look at our pupil," he said, "and to see how he lives."