"Then you'd catch it from me!" Sereja announced, narrowing his eyes as he spoke. Jakoff did not want to give twenty kopecks, but he had been warned that he must look out where Sereja was concerned, and must put up with some of his fancies. It was not much he asked for, but if it was refused he would give you trouble during working-hours, or else he would beat you. So with a sigh Jakoff put his hand in his pocket. "That's right!" said Sereja, in a tone of encouragement ; and he threw himself on the sand by the side of them. "It's always wiser to obey me.... And you?" he said to Malva. "When are you going to marry me? I am not going to wait much longer." "You are too ragged. Mend all those holes first, and we'll talk about it afterwards!" replied Malva. Sereja considered the holes critically, and shook his head. "Give me one of your petticoats, that will be the best thing." "Yes, that would be the thing!" said Malva, laughing. "Give me one; you must have an old one?" "You really ought to buy yourself some trousers." "I would rather drink the money that they would cost." "That's the best thing to do!" said Jakoff. He was still holding in his hand the twenty kopecks. "The pope says that a man should not only think of his skin, but of his soul. And my soul calls for vodka, and not for a pair of trousers. Give me the money; I shall get a drink ... and I won't say anything to your father." "Tell him what you like," cried Jakoff. And he winked with a self-satisfied look at Malva, and nudged her with his elbow. Sereja, noticing his actions, spat and said in a more positive tone-- "I shan't forget to beat you; no fear of that! at the first opportunity!... And you won't forget it either!" "But why?" asked Jakoff, disquieted. "That's my business!... Well! and when are you going to marry me, Malva?" "First tell me what we shall do, and how we shall live. Then I will think about it ..." she replied seriously. Sereja watched the sea, screwed up his eyes, and after licking his lips, said-- "We should do nothing but wander about in the world." "And how should we manage to live?" "Bah!" said Sereja, with a despondent gesture. "You argue just like my mother. 'How? What?' Women are so tiresome! How do I know? I'm going off to have a drink...." He rose and walked off; Malva watching him with a strange smile on her lips, and the young man with an angry look on his face. "What a boaster!" said Jakoff, when Sereja had gone some distance. "At home, in the village, he would soon be put in his place. He would have got a good lesson before now. But here, they seem frightened of him...." Malva stared at Jakoff, and said between her teeth-- "You don't know the worth of him!" "What is there to know?... Ten a penny, that's what he's worth!" "That's all you know!" cried Malva, mockingly. "That's what you are worth!... But he, he has been everywhere, he has wandered all round the world, and he fears no one."