said he.Finally I gave him twenty kopecks.'Now,' said he then, 'kiss my hand.' And I had to kiss it, because he held his knife in the other.""Oh, they are quick with their knives," said Thaddeus."As I was leaving Gastinidvor once I was stopped by a hooligan who stuck a huge carving-knife under my nose.'You can have it for a rouble and a half,' he said.You can believe that I bought it without any haggling.And it was a very good bargain.It was worth at least three roubles.Your health, belle Onoto.""I always take my revolver when I go out," said Athanase."It is more prudent.I say this before the police.But I would rather be arrested by the police than stabbed by the hooligans.""There's no place any more to buy revolvers," dedared Ivan Petrovitch."All such places are closed."Gounsovski settled his glasses, rubbed his fat hands and said:
"There are some still at my locksmith's place.The proof is that to-day in the little Kaniouche my locksmith, whose name is Smith, when into the house of the grocer at the corner and wished to sell him a revolver.It was a Browning.'An arm of the greatest reliability,' he said to him, 'which never misses fire and which works very easily.' Having pronounced these words, the locksmith tried his revolver and lodged a ball in the grocer's lung.The grocer is dead, but before he died he bought the revolver.'You are right,' he said to the locksmith; 'it is a terrible weapon.'
And then he died."
The others laughed heartily.They thought it very funny.Decidedly this great Gounsovski always had a funny story.Who would not like to be his friend? Annouchka had deigned to smile.Gounsovski, in recognition, extended his hand to her like a mendicant.The young woman touched it with the end of her fingers, as if she were placing a twenty-kopeck piece in the hand of a hooligan, and withdrew from it with disgust.Then the doors opened for the Bohemians.Their swarthy troupe soon filled the room.Every evening men and women in their native costumes came from old Derevnia, where they lived all together in a sort of ancient patriarchal community, with customs that had not changed for centuries; they scattered about in the places of pleasure, in the fashionable restaurants, where they gathered large sums, for it was a fashionable luxury to have them sing at the end of suppers, and everyone showered money on them in order not to be behind the others.They accompanied on guzlas, on castanets, on tambourines, and sang the old airs, doleful and languorous, or excitable and breathiess as the flight of the earliest nomads in the beginnings of the world.
When they had entered, those present made place for them, and Rouletabille, who for some moments had been showing marks of fatigue and of a giddiness natural enough in a young man who isn't in the habit of drinking the finest champagnes, profited by the diversion to get a corner of the sofa not far from Prince Galitch, who occupied the place at Annouchka's right.
"Look, Rouletabaille is asleep," remarked la belle Onoto.
"Poor boy!" said Annouchka.
And, turning toward Gounsovski:
"Aren't you soon going to get him out of our way? I heard some of our brethren the other day speaking in a way that would cause pain to those who care about his health.""Oh, that," said Gounsovski, shaking his head, "is an affair I have nothing to do with.Apply to Koupriane.Your health, belle Annouchka."But the Bohemians swept some opening chords for their songs, and the singers took everybody's attention, everybody excepting Prince Galitch and Annouchka, who, half turned toward one another, exchanged some words on the edge of all this musical uproar.As for Rouletabille, he certainly must have been sleeping soundly not to have been waked by all that noise, melodious as it was.It is true that be had - apparently - drunk a good deal and, as everyone knows, in Russia drink lays out those who can't stand it.When the Bohemians had sung three times Gounsovski made a sign that they might go to charm other ears, and slipped into the hands of the chief of the band a twenty-five rouble note.But Onoto wished to give her mite, and a regular collection commenced.Each one threw roubles into the plate held out by a little swarthy Bohemian girl with crow-black hair, carelessly combed, falling over her forehead, her eyes and her face, in so droll a fashion that one would have said the little thing was a weeping-willow soaked in ink.The plate reached Prince Galitch, who futilely searched his pockets.
"Bah!" said he, with a lordly air, "I have no money.But here is my pocket-book; I will give it to you for a souvenir of me, Katharina."Thaddeus and Athanase exclaimed at the generosity of the prince, but Annouchka said:
"The prince does as he should, for my friends can never sufficiently repay the hospitality that that little thing gave me in her dirty hut when I was in hiding, while your famous department was deciding what to do about me, my dear Gounsovski.""Eh," replied Gounsovski, "I let you know that all you had to do was to take a fine apartment in the city."Annouchka spat on the ground like a teamster, and Gounsoyski from yellow turned green.
"But why did you hide yourself that way, Annouchka?" asked Onoto as she caressed the beautiful tresses of the singer.
"You know I had been condemned to death, and then pardoned.I had been able to leave Moscow, and I hadn't any desire to be re-taken here and sent to taste the joys of Siberia.""But why were you condemned to death?"
"Why, she doesn't know anything! " exclaimed the others.
"Good Lord, I'm just back from London and Paris - how should I know anything! But to have been condemned to death! That must have been amusing.""Very amusing," said Annouchka icily."And if you have a brother whom you love, Onoto, think how mnch more amusing it must be to have him shot before you.""Oh, my love, forgive me!"
"So you may know and not give any pain to your Annouchka in the future, I will tell you, madame, what happened to our dear friend,"said Prince Galitch.
