“You suck my life-blood out of me—bend lower, you idiot!” remarked the fond wife—“bend lower still, I tell you!” “How have I sucked your life blood?” asked the victim, bending his head as low as circumstances permitted. “Fool!—allegorically, of course—can’t you understand? Now, then, comb it yourself. Here, Grisha, dress him, quick!” Our heroine threw herself into an arm-chair, and critically watched the ceremony of adorning her husband. Meanwhile the latter had a little opportunity to get his breath once more and compose his feelings generally; so that when matters arrived at the point where the tie is tied, he had even developed so much audacity as to express opinions of his own as to how the bow should be manufactured. At last, having put his dress-coat on, the lord of the manor was his brave self again, and gazed at his highly ornate person in the glass with great satisfaction and complacency. “Where are you going to take me to?” he now asked, smiling at his reflected self. Maria Alexandrovna could not believe her ears. “What—_what_? How _dare_ you ask me where I am taking you to, sir!” “But—mammy—I must know, you know——” “Hold your tongue! You let me hear you call me mammy again, especially where we are going to now! you sha’n’t have any tea for a month!” The frightened consort held his peace. “Look at that, now! You haven’t got a single ’order’ to put on—sloven!” she continued, looking at his black coat with contempt. “The Government awards orders, mammy; and I am not a sloven, but a town councillor!” said Afanassy, with a sudden excess of noble wrath. “What, what—_what_! So you’ve learned to argue now, have you—you mongrel, you? However, I haven’t time to waste over you now, or I’d——but I sha’n’t forget it. Here, Grisha, give him his fur coat and his hat—quick; and look here, Grisha, when I’m gone, get these three rooms ready, and the green room, and the corner bedroom. Quick—find your broom; take the coverings off the looking-glasses and clocks, and see that all is ready and tidy within an hour. Put on a dress coat, and see that the other men have gloves: don’t lose time. Quick, now!” She entered the carriage, followed by Afanassy. The latter sat bewildered and lost. Meanwhile Maria Alexandrovna reflected as to how best she could drum into her husband’s thick skull certain essential instructions with regard to the present situation of affairs. But Afanassy anticipated her. “I had a very original dream to-day, Maria Alexandrovna,” he observed quite unexpectedly, in the middle of a long silence. “Tfu! idiot. I thought you were going to say something of terrific interest, from the look of you. Dream, indeed! How dare you mention your miserable dreams to me! Original, too! Listen here: if you dare so much as remind me of the word ‘dream,’ or say anything else, either, where we are going to-day, I—I don’t know _what_ I won’t do to you! Now, look here: Prince K. has arrived at my house. Do you remember Prince K.?”