"Well, to put folk out of the way.... It seems there is an order that all the poor people are to be poisoned when there are too many of them," added Motrja. "Who told you that?" "Well, everybody says so.... The painter's cook says so also.... And lots of others say the same thing." "A lot of silly fools! What would the Government gain by it? Just think a moment! First they would have to treat us all with medicine; and then they would have to pay for the funerals, the coffins, the graves, and all that sort of thing. That all costs something, and it all has to come out of the coffers of the State.... That's all idle chatter; if they really want to get rid of a few of the poor people, they have only got to send them out to Siberia; there's room for them all there; or to some uninhabited island, where they can dig the ground, work and pay taxes! Can't you understand? Don't you see that would be the right sort of way of thinning out the people, and would be at the same time advantageous.... For an uninhabited island produces nothing; but workers, who pay taxes, are the most important matter for the State coffers. But what sense would there be in poisoning people and burying them?... There would be no sense in it, don't you see? And then about the medical students; they are certainly a troublesome lot, but more especially because they are always in opposition to the authorities, than because they poison people.... No, you won't catch a medical student doing that, not for all the money in the world!... One can see at once that these students are not that sort." The whole day they talked of the medical student, and of the advice he had given them. They spoke of his cheerful laugh, of his expression, and they remembered that there was a button missing on his coat But on the question as to whether it was missing on the right side or the left, they could not agree; and they nearly came to pulling one another's hair over it. Twice already Grischka had made his wife angry, but he noticed in time that her bottle still contained a good drop of vodka; so in the end he gave in to her. They made resolutions to commence cleaning up their cellar the next day, and then began once more to talk of the student, whose entry into their home had acted on them like a refreshing breath of fresh air.