And both the serpent and the swan, in bending over her, showed Sasha's face, almost bluely pale, with dark, enigmatically sad eyes--their blue-black eyelids, jealously covering their witching glance, descended heavily and apprehensively. Then Liudmilla dreamt of a magnificent chamber with low, heavy arches--it was crowded with strong, naked, beautiful boys--the handsomest of all was Sasha. She was sitting high, and the naked boys in turn beat one another. And when Sasha was laid on the floor, his face towards Liudmilla, and beaten, he loudly laughed and wept--she was also laughing, as one laughs only in dreams, when the heart begins to beat intensely, and when one laughs long, unrestrainedly, the laughter of oblivion and of death.... In the morning after all these dreams Liudmilla felt that she was passionately in love with Sasha. An impatient desire to see him seized hold of her--but the thought that she would see him dressed made her sad. How stupid that small boys don't go about naked! Or at least barefoot, like the streets gamins in summer upon whom Liudmilla loved to gaze because they walked about barefoot, and sometimes showed their bared legs quite high. "As if it were so shameful to have a body," thought Liudmilla, "that even small boys hide it!" [1] Simon Yakovlevitch Nadson (1862-86), a poet of considerable merit, who was popular in spite of his monotony and melancholy. [2] This word in Russian is "poloskatsya" and is a pun on "laskatsya," which is to caress. [3] The original word is "chastushka," which is a town song put to the tune of an old folk-song. This is a recent development of town life in Russia. [4] "Bossiak" is literally "bare-foot," a vagabond. The "bossiak" has become quite a marked type in Russia since Gorky took to writing of him. The bossiak is often referred to in a satiric way in modern Russian literature. CHAPTER XV Volodin went punctually to the Adamenkos to give his lessons. His hopes that the young woman would invite him to take coffee were not realised. Each time he came he was taken straight to the little shanty used for carpentry. Misha usually stood in his linen apron at the joiner's bench, having got ready what was necessary for the lesson. He did obediently but unwillingly all that Volodin told him to do. In order to work less, Misha tried to drag Volodin into conversation, but Volodin wished to work conscientiously and refused to comply. "Mishenka," he would say, "you had better do your work for a couple of hours and then, if you like, we can have a talk. Then as much as you like, but now not a bit--business before everything." Misha sighed lightly and went on with his work, but at the end of the lesson he had no desire to talk: he said he had no time and that he had much home work to do.