Pavel Pavlovitch laden with bed clothes had been standing in the middle of the room with a stupid drunken leer on his face, irresolute; but at Velchaninoff’s second bidding he hurriedly began the task of making his bed, moving the table away from in front of it, and smoothing a sheet over the seat of the divan. Velchaninoff approached to help him. He was more or less gratified with his guest’s alarm and submission. “Now, drink up that wine and lie down!” was his next command. He felt that he _must_ order this man about, he could not help himself. “I suppose you took upon yourself to order this wine, did you?” “I did—I did, sir! I sent for the wine, Alexey Ivanovitch, because I knew _you_ would not send out again!” “Well, it’s a good thing that you knew that; but I desire that you should know still more. I give you notice that I have taken my own measures for the future, I’m not going to put up with any more of your antics.” “Oh, I quite understand, Alexey Ivanovitch, that that sort of thing could only happen once!” said Pavel Pavlovitch, giggling feebly. At this reply Velchaninoff, who had been marching up and down the room stopped solemnly before Pavel Pavlovitch. “Pavel Pavlovitch,” he said, “speak plainly! You are a clever fellow—I admit the fact freely,—but I assure you you are going on a false track now. Speak plainly, and act like an honest man, and I give you my word of honour that I will answer all you wish to know.” Pavel Pavlovitch grinned his disagreeable grin (which always drove Velchaninoff wild) once more. “Wait!” cried the latter. “No humbug now, please; I see through you. I repeat that I give you my word of honour to reply candidly to anything you may like to ask, and to give you every sort of satisfaction—reasonable or even unreasonable—that you please. _Oh!_ how I wish I could make you understand me!” “Since you are so very kind,” began Pavel Pavlovitch, cautiously bending towards him, “I may tell you that I am very much interested as to what you said yesterday about ‘bird of prey’?” Velchaninoff spat on the ground in utter despair and disgust, and recommenced his walk up and down the room, quicker than ever. “No, no, Alexey Ivanovitch, don’t spurn my question; you don’t know how interested I am in it. I assure you I came here on purpose to ask you about it. I know I’m speaking indistinctly, but you’ll forgive me that. I’ve read the expression before. Tell me now, was Bagantoff a ‘bird of prey,’ or—the other thing? How is one to distinguish one from the other?” Velchaninoff went on walking up and down, and answered nothing for some minutes.