XI + 

SeryozhaтАЩs dog, all netted with spidersтАЩ webs and glazed with dew, stood in the doorway, collecting with a high nose the too faint traces of SeryozhaтАЩs vicinity. The smell of putrefying fish clinging to SeryozhaтАЩs pack in the passageway cheered the dog a good deal; it knew that smell by now as part of the family. The house seemed to be empty of everything but air, and this happy patch of smelly air was a sort of ghost of SeryozhaтБатАФthe next best thing to the presence of that solid and glorious being. The dog stood for a long time with its nose pressed very hard to a spot on the floor on which Seryozha had dropped, hours before, a small shred of fish liver. For quite a minute, the bereaved dog licked this spot slowly, romantically, like a melancholy epicure. + 

Slanting from the windows were shallow barred slides of sunlight, down and across which raced and blew and eddied the little light glittering typhoons of dust stirred up by KatyaтАЩs recent sweeping. The pale floor mats were a rectangular maze of sunlight and shadow; and flies seemed to browse in these square fields of sunlight like cattle seen from an airplane. Now and then this restful illusion was broken by one fly rising and flying petulantly away as another one alighted. A sequin-blue butterfly with a long tail flew uncertainly in from the garden, its shadow dodging across the fields of sun and dikes of shade, and settled on TanyaтАЩs blue cloak which hung on a peg. It opened and closed its wings slowly before its shadow, like a queen trying on a new dress before the glass. Summer morning danced in the house, but, to the dog, human bustle alone spelled morningтБатАФand human bustle was disturbingly lacking here. There were so many strangers in the houseтБатАФthe blue butterfly, a couple of thistledowns riding high across the ceiling, a muddy spade with a rather dead section of worm on it, leaning against the wall, a riding-whip smelling of horse, a noisy bee that hovered about the dogтАЩs shrinking ear, an insolent brown hen on the thresholdтБатАФall strangersтБатАФno friendsтБатАФand the dog loathed strangers. Strangers so often have stings, like bees, or sticks, like beggars, or kicks, like horses; they never smell right. + 

A smell casts no shadow before; dogs, therefore, who are led through life by the nose, have to be intensely conservative. They can tolerate no new departures because they can know no destinations. SeryozhaтАЩs dog, though trying to be brave, felt as far away from its own tried and trusted circumstances as a man might feel who found himself the first to set foot on the moon. To the dog this house seemed as shimmering and appalling and silent as the moon; this bright gloss of sunlit air, speckled with smell-less strangers, lacking the immediate familiar smell of known gods, was as lifeless as the brittle bodiless glare that lays gray shadows at the feet of the moonтАЩs starved peaks. Traveling from place to place, one carried oneтАЩs own exciting, flying world along with one; somewhere close in front of oneтАЩs thrilled nose was home, or something like home; somewhere close behind oneтАЩs tail was oneтАЩs own tramping homespun god. But arrival at Mi-san had meant to the dog an elaborate homelessness. That little spot of concentrated rotten fish smell on the floor was all that was left of home. + 

Tiptoeing on stiff suspicious toes into the living-room, the dog was much pleased to find Wilfred Chew lying asleep on the sofa. As a rule, the dog thought nothing of Wilfred, but this morning the man could certainly be promoted to the rank of an encouraging smell. The dog pushed its nose into WilfredтАЩs eye, savoring the blessed tang of something known before. Wilfred, with a loud groan, turned over, flinging his arms across his frowning shut eyes, and the dog whipped its precious self away to the other side of the room, fearing a kick. + 

A very small piece of goose skin, which, under the table, had escaped KatyaтАЩs active brush, comforted the dog for a moment, and this snack inspired the lost animal to go to the kitchen. It knew where the kitchen was; any dog could find a kitchen, even in the moon. Katya had gone to market. The kitchen door at the end of the passage was ajar, and the dog pushed in. In a bucket by the pump it found a priceless treasure of goose bones and gravy-splashed scraps. + 

Seryozha, coming with a dazed, quiet step into the kitchen, saw his dog and loved it as he had never loved it before. That dusty brindled back seemed to shine with a light of blessed familiarity. SeryozhaтАЩs tired eyes, looking at it, seemed to be stroked with a kind of home balm. He stood still watching the dog, his consciousness numbedтБатАФas it always wasтБатАФby the thrill of seeing an animal enjoying itself by itself, unaware of his presence. To watch his dog smiling and snorting into its bucket of ambrosia almost made him feel as if this old worried Seryozha were standing here watching his young self, careless and apartтБатАФhis young lost self, enjoying something as this old watching Seryozha would never enjoy anything again. + 

The dog looked up and saw Seryozha. It cringed and crawled toward him, expecting a kick for thieving, and Seryozha, beaming at it, gave it a little soft kick to oblige it. While he focused his eyes exclusively upon it, blurring from his sight the strange surroundings, he could imagine himself that young happy Seryozha again at home in his motherтАЩs kitchen. He could pretend that he would look up in a minute from the dogтАЩs delighted writhings and see the white pansy face of that old clock in the marbled case on the dresserтБатАФthat kind foolish dial with the six rubbed outтБатАФlook up and see that it was time to go to work againтБатАФto begin another safe known day. + 

Seryozha, with the dog hurrying triumphantly at his calfтБатАФalmost pressing its front teeth against his calf in its anxiety not to lose him againтБатАФwent out through the kitchen door. He crossed the walled Japanese garden and went out into the acre or so of Ostapenko estate, half of which was a vegetable garden and half a railed enclosure for horses. A Korean in his white puffed clothesтБатАФlooking like a cream crackerтБатАФwas filling up a trench in the earth of the garden, and Seryozha, loathing the man because he was the only man in sightтБатАФand a strangerтБатАФput as much distance as possible between them and sat down on the edge of a little stream that ran at the foot of the fence. The high grass, tufted with wild blue geraniums and scarlet lilies, hid Seryozha from the world as he sat down, dangling his feet over the stream. His dog, pressing its seat as near as possible to his, sat down, too, and blew great hot loving breaths into his ear. + 

Seryozha threw his arms round the dogтАЩs neck and cried into its shoulder. + 

For the first time in his life, Seryozha was shakenтБатАФshaken in his stalwart anonymityтБатАФcalled home to self-consciousness by a sort of earthquake of the heart. He had been invisible, he had been a matter of course, he had been too close to see, he had been a hollow yet satisfactory person labeled Sergei Sergeievitch Malinin. He had no more known the creature that moved behind that name than he had known the shape of the bones that moved beneath his flesh and skin. The only mystery about the anonymous blank life that lay behind the name Sergei Malinin was found in the repeated utterance of the name itself, curiously enough. A delicious poised strangeness perched on the peak of the soul, when one said that nameтБатАФSergei MalininтБатАФSergei MalininтБатАФa hundred times over. This slippery transparent Seryozha, through whom, as it seemed, one could see the sky, was a hill of glass on which no bird but that winged mystery of his own mesmeric name could find foothold. As for loveтБатАФwomenтАЩs loveтБатАФfriendтАЩs loveтБатАФself-loveтБатАФa hill of glass afforded no hospitality to such flying visitors. + 

Now, this earthquake intrusion of a trespasser had shaken him awakeтБатАФhad forced him to turn and meet himself. He was recognized as a man, as he had longed to be recognized; he was traveling, far from his mother, as he had longed to travel; he was married, by his own expressed wish, to the most beautiful and gentle girl he had ever seen. And he felt the lonely fright of a chicken outside the egg, of a fledgeling outside the nest, of a weaned puppy refused its motherтАЩs warm teats. He shook with a fevered longing to go backтБатАФto go back into safetyтБатАФto be warm and careless in little yesterday again, instead of turned loose in this wide draughty today, with no guide but his own reluctant maturity. + 

Seryozha tried to dislodge a stone in the bank with his heel; he kicked it spitefully, as though he were trying to demolish something menacing. Growing up, then, was a trap; he had been lured into it by an exquisite decoy and must spend the rest of his life pressing his face against iron bars. There was Tanya, the decoy, a prisoner with himтБатАФstill exquisiteтБатАФstill his. But Seryozha had never felt the need of a friend or a comforterтБатАФhad never yet desired reinforcement against himself or anyone else; he had not known that even his motherтАЩs affection was valuable to himтБатАФhe had thought it contemptible, quite negligibleтБатАФthough now he saw it tenderly as part of the furniture of little safe yesterday. He had a mournful senseless vision of himself now, spinning a whipping-top in the street of Chi-tao-kouтБатАФa game that needs no partner. And here was TanyaтБатАФa spray of orchids handed to a person who needed both his hands for the whipping of his top. + 

What was that Mr.┬аChew had said about cold devils? There were no devils, really, but there were strangers. As a boy, yesterday, Seryozha had never noticed strangers. Now, it seemed, a stranger could trespassтБатАФcould lie in oneтАЩs arms all night and yet never be known, never be simple, forgotten, easy, taken for granted. He must live uneasy, now, he must come inside himself and think. This was the result of the cold presence of strangers; no magic smokeтБатАФno heart and liver of an enchanted fishтБатАФcould exorcise that trespassing presence. + 

SeryozhaтАЩs body was not accustomed to being used by thought. It scarcely knew how to behave while thinking. His heel kicked and kicked at the stone, and when the stone at last fell with a splash into the stream, his body felt innocently triumphant, and his lips began to whistle by themselvesтБатАФa low, flat whistle. + 

His dog was greatly cheered by this sound, and still more delighted to be suddenly pushed off the bank into the water. SeryozhaтАЩs body, having achieved one splash, desired another. The dog laughed in the water, rolling its entranced eyes upward, and, finding that it could not jump up to the top of the high bank again from the hampering water, ran gayly a few yards down the current to a point at which the stream flattened out into strands of sand and shallow bubbling rapids over pebblesтБатАФa perfect working model of a Manchurian river. SeryozhaтАЩs eyesтБатАФalways alert for miniature thingsтБатАФnoticed the fidelity to fact of this toy river. And his eyes remembered the spring in ManchuriaтБатАФthat rolling golden lark-shrill Manchurian spring that was, to him, home and yesterday. He remembered tremendous auburn distances and wide tender curves of marbled colors in varied earthтБатАФyellow deepening to orangeтБатАФorange to redтБатАФred paling to sandyтБатАФsandy to creamтБатАФwith here and there the faint green flush of pricking grassтБатАФand on every rainbow hillside, a white spot of Korean moving slowly along the edge of a growing parallelogram of new-furrowed land behind a yellow blob of bullock. + 

тАЬAh, tschah!тАЭ said Seryozha, throwing a stone at a bird. The stone rustled and ricocheted through the bush beneath which the bird sat, but the bird scarcely moved. тАЬA funny thing,тАЭ thought Seryozha. тАЬA bird thatтАЩs not afraid of a stone.тБатАКтБатАжтАЭ He took off his shoes and splashed across the stream. The birdтБатАФa sparrowтБатАФlooked at him with an anguished round eye, but it scarcely moved. Seryozha put his hand over it, loving it as soon as he saw it was too sad to be his prey. Caked round one of its claws was a ball of clay as big as a walnut. The bird must have alighted unwarily on some unusually wet adhesive surfaceтБатАФit must have been involved in some combination of circumstances outside common bird-experienceтБатАФso now it went hopelessly encumbered, a crawling thing about the grass instead of a brown flash in a tree. Seryozha took out his pocket knife, and with his cautious clever blunt hands began flaking off the hard-baked mud, sliver by sliver, till first one little scaly knuckle appeared, then another. The anatomy of birdsтАЩ claws he studied by comparison with the free claw, so that the point of his knife knew where to be bold and where delicate. The birdтАЩs eye, bright and silly as a sequin, remained fixed upon him; its little bones, wrapped thickly yet unsubstantially in a warm padding of feathers, seemed swooning in his hand. After half an hourтАЩs delicious mincing work, the whole claw was free; the knife had made no mistake. тАЬStand up, bird,тАЭ said Setyozha impatiently, as the bird reeled on his wrist. Its freed claw remembered, hesitantly, how to grip; it tautened its body, threw a glance of sharp loathing at its savior, and flew a few yards. тАЬOh, get away now, bird,тАЭ said Seryozha, and threw a stone at it. + 

тАЬThe darling thing,тАЭ said TatianaтАЩs voice behind him. тАЬIt thinks itself so clever.тАЭ She stood in the long grass, biting a blade of grass, her head bold and vivid against the faint blue morning sky. тАЬIt thinks it used your knife so neatlyтБатАФmade a fool of you. It thinks you were trying to eat it or something, and freed it by mistake because it was so clever. ItтАЩs laughing up its wing at you.тАЭ + 

тАЬIt was very kind of me to take so much trouble about a little idiot of a bird,тАЭ said Seryozha, throwing stone after stone at the bird as it fluttered from branch to branch of a low tree. тАЬYou praise these silly beasts so, but, say what you will, weтАЩre better friends to them than they to us.тАЭ + 

тАЬOh, of courseтБатАКтБатАж but what are friends, after all? Just messy things.тБатАКтБатАжтАЭ + 

She wondered why he looked so sulky. Had she grieved him? Ought a wife to be somehow different? She thought alternately. тАЬWellтБатАФitтАЩs what I amтБатАФhe must take it or leave itтБатАКтБатАжтАЭ and, тАЬBut was I wrong? ought I to have been different?тАЭ She was in two worldsтБатАФher heart away in its solitary and exciting wilderness, her body watching for a signal from her lover, and desperately ignorant of how to obey the signal when it should come. + 

Seryozha was sullenly thinking, who were these two persons discussing nature? Sergei Sergeievitch Malinin, a married man, and Tatiana Pavlovna, his wife, two grown-up people with interesting thoughts. What if he sprang to his feet now, and ran home? He thought of Sonia MatvievnaтБатАФthat easy squeaking creature in Chi-tao-kou. Her conversation was all giggleтБатАФone giggle for yesтБатАФanother giggle for noтБатАФno giggle ever meant anything so complicated as a discussion of a sparrowтАЩs reaction to an act of human helpfulness. Then he remembered the consenting Tanya of last night. Sonia Matvievna would have had only a giggle for that, too. + 

тАЬAh, TanyaтБатАФTanyaтБатАФcome closer.тБатАКтБатАжтАЭ + 

She knelt by his side at once and kissed him lightly on one eye. His dog, inspired by this, rushed upon him and kissed him, much more clumsily and ardently, on the other. They all laughed. + 

Seryozha stopped laughing rather soon. In fact only the dog went on. It was insensitive to atmosphere, and knew nothing about the domestic changes in divine Valhalla since yesterday. Tatiana stopped laughing and watched SeryozhaтАЩs face. Even the kiss hadnтАЩt been right, she could see. + 

Seryozha blinked the eye that she had kissed. It felt shocked by that light, quiet kiss; the eyelid fluttered by itself like the skin of a horseтАЩs shoulder. He supposed that he was hungry, though he wasnтАЩt quite sure. The skin of his face felt disappointed. His ears listened for some loud vulgar shout or laugh. Girls were fun, and one was fun to girls. Yet Tanya, though so lovely, so darling, was no funтБатАФnor did she find him fun. What, then, was between themтБатАФsomething more exciting than funтБатАФor nothing? Now, for instance, she suddenly seized his hand. Why should she do this, if it were no joke to her? Why should she want to hold his not very clean handтБатАФso quietly, so seriously? Her thin hand seemed to need no pinchingтБатАФno activity at all. He held it, with a surprise that gradually changed to pleasure. Vaguely, with no recognition more articulate than a faint prevision of serenity, he began to know that this quiet taking for granted was at least as fit a sequel to last nightтАЩs strange joy as the restlessness and roguishness of Sonia Matvievna would have been. Something was born between Seryozha and Tanya at that momentтБатАФa taking-for-granted for twoтБатАФa doubling, instead of a halving, of anonymity and unconsciousness. + 

тАЬDo people ever have breakfast, in Korea?тАЭ asked Seryozha. The sun was quite high. This visit seemed to lack landmarks, somehow. And he had promised to stay for a fortnight. Was it only perhaps hunger that made him feel that he would never be at home in life again? + 

They walked toward the house. SeryozhaтАЩs dog led the way. It hoped that their destination was the bucket full of goose scraps, and writhed winningly at the back door. But Seryozha and Tatiana walked to the front door and into the living-room. + 

Pavel Ostapenko sat there, leaning over the still sleeping Wilfred, looking rather like the Doctor in Sir Luke FildesтАЩ picture, but not feeling like that at all. Pavel was haggard and cross. At the moment of his waking, the thought had broken on his brain like a clap of thunder: тАЬWhat will happen when Chew wakes upтБатАФsober? What if he says the paper is not legal?тАЭ Pavel, of course, had not for a moment entertained the thought, тАЬWhat if I were wrong?тАЭтБатАФbut only the much more torturing doubtтБатАФтАЬWhat if he says I was wrong, and tells the others so?тАЭ He had spent an uncomfortable hour wondering whether the impossible could happenтБатАФwhether Pavel Ostapenko could be accused of having made a mistake. Every voice in the house, except one, could now be depended on to say, тАЬYou were perfectly right, Pavel Nicholaievitch,тАЭ and that, of course, was just the same as being right. But, unfortunately, the one voice that remained, so far, silent in this necessary chorus was an indispensable one. And still more unfortunately, the lips that should form these vital words were sealed by intemperate sleep, and the understanding that should evolve the utterance could not be reached by Ostapenko logic, however eloquently expressed, even had it been awake. What on earth was the Almighty about, thought Pavel irritably, to create such a superfluity of human beings who were unfamiliar with the language that Pavel Ostapenko could use so skillfully. Unless something was done, an unthinkable emergency would ariseтБатАФPavel Ostapenko would be humiliated in the eyes of his inferiors. It followed that Pavel must somehow, in some language not yet invented, have a talk with Wilfred before anyone else had a chance to do so. Pavel must be ready with a sufficiently persuasive argument to induce Wilfred, the moment he awoke, to admitтБатАФтАЬYou were perfectly right, Pavel Nicholaievitch, in the course you took,тАЭ and to confirm this opinion triumphantly before the family. + 

Pavel sat with one elbow on his knee, glaring and breathing hotly at the innocent blank face of Wilfred. Beside him on a table were one hundred and fifty yen in notes, a Russian-English dictionary, an elementary English grammar, an illustrated history of the Russian Empire, several large sheets of paper covered with English words in wavering block letters, and the deed drawn up by Wilfred the night before. + 

тАЬTschah! Go away,тАЭ whispered Pavel, irascibly, to Seryozha and Tatiana as they came hungrily in. The foolish interfering creatures might awaken Wilfred prematurely, and SeryozhaтБатАФthe interpreterтБатАФwould then have the dangerous first word. + 

Varvara, hearing the young people come in, joined them at the living-room door, carrying a tray. тАЬBreakfast, Pavlik,тАЭ said Varvara. тАЬIt is eleven oтАЩclock.тАЭ + 

тАЬDevil take you all!тАЭ said Pavel in a furious whisper that scraped his throat. тАЬWho in the world wants breakfast at this time of day? CanтАЩt you leave the poor devil to finish his sleep in peace?тАЭ + 

Varvara, carried forward by the slow impetus of her grave assumption that breakfast was needed, put the tray on the table before she turned to her husband in surprise. тАЬWho wants breakfast, you say!тАЭ she echoed. тАЬWhy, Pavlik, everyone wantsтБатАФтАЭ + 

Pavel rose to his feet in a shivering paroxysm of anger, and waved his clenched fists in the air. Varvara snatched the loaded tray up just in time to prevent him from seizing it and throwing it through the door. With the tray in her hands, she recovered her hard calm manner. тАЬPavel Nicholaievitch is rather tired this morning,тАЭ she said to Seryozha and, squaring her angular shoulders, she led the retreat from the room. + 

Pavel was left with the prostrate Wilfred, whose plaintive expression suggested that he was locked in a prison of disquieting dreams. One could almost see his teased brain beating at the closed shutters of his eyes. + 

тАЬShould I not wake him?тАЭ Pavel asked himself. тАЬHe isnтАЩt enjoying himself, wherever he is.тАЭ + 

But just as he leaned forward to say some urgent awakening word, the door opened and Katya, the servant, came in, with an expression ofтБатАФтАЬLeave him to me; IтАЩll manage him.тАЭ SeryozhaтАЩs dog bustled after her. It thought the stout kitchen-smelling Katya a most delightful woman, and innocently mistook her for its hostess. + 

тАЬPavel Nicholaievitch,тАЭ said Katya, тАЬyou must allow me to lay the table for breakfast. It isтБатАФтАЭ + 

Pavel rushed upon her with a roar, all his teeth showing, arms and legs sprawling across the air. The outraged old woman fled a few paces, then tried to make a stand in the passage. But Pavel slammed the door in her face with such a bang that the dog squeaked as it fled, believing itself shot. + 

The noise half roused Wilfred, yet, in spite of the discomfort of his dreams, he was reluctant to wake. He rolled about on the sofa and buried his face in the cushion, trying to drive his struggling consciousness back into the safe imprisoning corridors of sleep again. Pavel stood over him. тАЬCurse him!тАЭ he cried. тАЬHe must be doing it on purpose.тАЭ He seized the cushion and dragged it from under WilfredтАЩs head. Wilfred substituted an arm for it. Pavel dragged the arm away, too. + 

тАЬAwaken, Mistah Chew, awaken!тАЭ he shouted. He had looked the English word up in his dictionary. + 

An obstinate sealed look came into WilfredтАЩs face, then a look of petulance, then a distortion of the most unspeakable agony, then a light of beautiful resignation, then a recollection of the Reverend Oswald Fawcett. Wilfred opened his eyes, himself again, though rather a melancholy self. тАЬHrrgh?тАЭ he inquired in a strangled snort, disappointed with the waking world. + 

тАЬIs time of breekfast,тАЭ shouted Pavel, feverishly consulting his English notes. тАЬMistahтБатАФquickтБатАФawaken.тАЭ + 

Wilfred lay with his eyes wet and callow in their puffed sockets, like newborn kittens in their lair. His gaze was fixed with a tranced expression on a spittoon; one would have said it was his dearest treasure. + 

Pavel thrust a sheet of paper between WilfredтАЩs eyes and the spittoon. Wilfred took a minute to adjust his drowsy focus, and then he recognized his own writing on the paper. It was the indenture he had drawn up last night. So it had not been a dream, thought Wilfred, surprised. + 

Pavel pushed his red beard close to WilfredтАЩs face and said very loudly in pidgin RussianтБатАФfor he had forgotten most of the English words he had prepared, тАЬEtaтБатАФbumagaтБатАФhoroshoтБатАФah?тАЭ + 

тАЬHorosho, horosho,тАЭ mumbled Wilfred, vaguely, feeling flattered by the word of approval. + 

Pavel, encouraged, produced another sheet of paperтБатАФhis own composition this time. тАЬTatiana Ostapenko and Sergei Malinin marriaged good ? ? ? Is it? This Indenture Witnesseth true? Is it ? ? ? R.S.V.P. Very Importance.тАЭ + 

Before Wilfred had time to achieve full understanding of this last message, PavelтБатАФnervous lest the man should prematurely shake his headтБатАФthrust the Russian history before his guest, open at a picture of the wedding of Peter the Great. тАЬAll same?тАЭ shouted Pavel, in a sweating frenzy of suspense and mental effort, rapping his finger first on the picture of the wedding and then on WilfredтАЩs draft of the deed. + 

тАЬAll sameтБатАФall same,тАЭ said Wilfred, heartily, though still uncertain what was required of him. + 

Pavel, more and more hopeful, yet still in an agony lest someone should come in before understanding was complete, positively prodded the deed, indicatingтБатАФso forcibly that WilfredтАЩs kneecap below was quite bruisedтБатАФthe four signaturesтБатАФWilfredтАЩs own, PavelтАЩs own, SeryozhaтАЩs and TatianaтАЩs. + 

тАЬMarriaged good, is it? All same church,тАЭ he rasped into WilfredтАЩs ear, consulting his notes again. тАЬVery importance because this night they have sleeped ensemble like marriaged. Now fornication not, is it?тАЭ + 

Wilfred now understood. His brain cleared and began reviewing the results of this premature acceptance of his drafted agreement. His eyes cleared and saw a pile of ten-yen notes on the table. He woke up wholly. He read his draft through carefully, his tongue, as well as his bright eyes, leaning out of his head with a creatorтАЩs eagerness. + 

His first thought was regret that these impetuous people had not waited for him to show what he could really do in the way of drawing up an agreement. This scribble was nothing; it had a blot in the middle of one page; it did not do Wilfred Chew, Esquire, of the Middle Temple, London, any credit at all. Besides, added an afterthought, it was quite worthless. There were no witnesses to the signatures, and very little substance to the matter. YetтБатАФwhat of it? These were decent people, who were made happy by believing themselves decently folded within the limits of the law. Law-abiding people only too anxious to abide by even this exiguous semblance of the law. Outlaws craving to be in. Supposing Wilfred, as he thought loftily, annulled by a sceptical word this marriage that he had accidentally made, much disturbance of mind would resultтБатАФand no advantage. тАЬMorally it is a real marriage,тАЭ thought Wilfred. тАЬAnd it must be GodтАЩs will, since God has not provided these poor barbarians with their orthodox machinery for getting married.тАЭ He felt conscientiously that he was, in this instance, an instrument of GodтАЩs will. In fact, since the law, as represented by Wilfred, had more to do with the making of this marriage than Heaven had, he felt himself to be in the position of chief justice in this crown colony of Heaven. His it was, not GodтАЩs, to exercise, as it were, the discretion of the court in this case. Reverend Mr.┬аOswald Fawcett would surely be the last to wish quibbles of church or law to destroy these innocent barbarian illusions. Supposing a baby were to result from last nightтАЩs naive precipitancy, would it not be a misuse of WilfredтАЩs supreme power to make the poor little thing illegitimate by a careless word? + 

While Wilfred thought all these things, his eye dwelt blankly on the pile of ten-yen notes on the table. + 

тАЬAre all the parties concerned in the agreement prepared to carry out the various undertakings named?тАЭ asked Wilfred, sternly. + 

тАЬSchto?тАЭ asked the anxious Pavel, his chestnut eyes almost leaning out of their sockets. Perhaps, he thought, the whole crux of the matter depends on these unknown words that he is saying. + 

тАЬHave all the signatories expressed their honest intention of abiding by all the provisions of the indenture?тАЭ + 

тАЬSchto?тАЭ + 

Wilfred clicked in his throat. For a second he considered tearing the silly old paper in half. Then he pointed to the clauses that dealt with the money payment. PavelтАЩs eyes, like a thirsty proboscis, sucked in the information indicated. Wilfred gave Pavel time to reabsorb the idea under examination, and then leaned over, took the pile of notes, and counted out on to his own knee one hundred and fifty yen. + 

тАЬHoroshoтБатАФah?тАЭ yelled Wilfred. + 

тАЬHoroshoтБатАФhorosho,тАЭ replied Pavel in a rival bellow. + 

тАЬThen in this case the bumaga is perfectly horosho,тАЭ said Wilfred, throwing himself with abandon backward on the sofa, to show that the matter was settled. + 

тАЬHoroshoтБатАФah?тАЭ queried Pavel, making sure. + 

тАЬHorosho, horosho.тАЭ + 

тАЬBumaga horoshoтБатАФah?тАЭ + 

тАЬHorosho, horosho.тАЭ + 

тАЬHorosho.тАЭ + 

The storm of sibilant uncertainty died down. Everything was all right. Everything was safe. Wilfred and Pavel sat and looked at each other, a little tired but with glorious faces. + 

Then Pavel leapt to his feet and threw open the door to let the world come in. тАЬBreakfastтБатАФbreakfast,тАЭ he shouted in Russian, clapping his hands like a kindly sultan summoning slaves. + 

Varvara and Katya and the dog surged in, without rancor. Tatiana and Seryozha were late. They came in, hand in hand, as Pavel, Varvara and Wilfred began to eat. All three of their seniors looked at them for a moment in an odd silence. + 

Tatiana had the sense that theyтБатАФtwo humble victims of a strangenessтБатАФwere offering themselves tentatively to these eyes. She often had this pitying sense that comers-in were on approval, shrinking behind the transparent, hopefully decorated, adjusted screen of their faces. тАЬWill I do? This is the best me I can show you. Will it do?тАЭ Egoists were even more touching than altruists. Her fatherтАЩs precarious challenge to criticism had often wrung her heart. Now here she wasтБатАФvulnerably visible herselfтБатАФshe who had been unconsciousтБатАФbodilessтБатАФinvisible all her life. Here she was at the mercy of eyes, having dangerously taken body on herself through the big solid body of Seryozha beside her. + 

It was as though the old story of the magic cloak of invisibility had been reversed; by wrapping her water-clear impersonality in this wide cloak of reality that Seryozha was, she was seenтБатАФseenтБатАФa woman at lastтБатАФobliged to offer herself for acceptance or rejection by the eyes of strangersтБатАФobliged to ask humbly for tolerance, from eyes. + 

And as she looked at Seryozha going shyly round the table to his place, hitching up one shoulder awkwardly as though one of his legs were heavier than the other, patting down the brassy crest of hair on the crown of his head, she felt almost as if she were in his body, protecting it from the cold challenge of eyesтБатАФas if she were with him inside his too visible body which quailed, yet hoped for the bestтБатАФwhich preened itself, yet feared rebuff. She felt herself the true traditional wifeтБатАФhelping him to strengthen his ramparts, arming and encouraging the tender I inside that tough body. + 

And when Seryozha said to her father, тАЬThank you, I wonтАЩt have any honey,тАЭ Tatiana could almost have cried, so suddenly obsessed was she by the thought of that IтБатАФalone all its life till nowтБатАФhoping for the best possible results from its little notions of making itself charmingтБатАФor at least inoffensive; trying to feel confident of victory in its humble struggles to impress itself; keeping its body clean, its nose wiped, its mind wistfully yet imperfectly adjusted to the minds of others; walking in and out of the presence of strangers, saying, тАЬWill I do?тАЭ and then, тАЬDid I pass?тАЭ When Seryozha said, тАЬI wonтАЩt have any honey, thank you,тАЭ she saw him clinging forlornly to his rights and prejudices, daring to refuse honey, to like ham, to be different from other people, presenting himself cautiously as an individual to the round ruthless eye of her father. + 

Seryozha, unaware of the pathetic picture he was presenting to his wife, ate a very hearty breakfast and felt better, in spite of a slight spasm of indigestion. His father and mother were on his mind; he believed that he was pitying them, but really he was homesick for them. How could he combine the keeping of his promise to VarvaraтБатАФto stay at Mi-san for a fortnightтБатАФwith his determination to get home as quickly as possible? And there was that money still to be fetched from Isaev in Seoul. His life seemed to him now so complicated that he sweated a little all the time. He gave inarticulate consideration to a letter that he would write to his motherтБатАФDearest mamma, I am married to Tatiana Pavlovna Ostapenko.тБатАКтБатАж That wouldnтАЩt take long; he knew how to spell all the words. In the meantime, he drew Wilfred aside. + 

тАЬMy mamma and my papa, Mr.┬аChew, they thinks I come back soon.тАЭ + 

тАЬWell, you will, will you not?тАЭ + 

тАЬNyet. Pavel Nicholaievitch speak me I wait here fourteen day.тАЭ + 

тАЬVery hospitable, IтАЩm sure.тАЭ + 

тАЬDa da da. But I speak him, Yes, I shall stop.тАЭ + 

тАЬWell, it is for you to say.тАЭ + 

тАЬNyet. My papa and my mamma thinks I come back more soon.тАЭ + 

тАЬWell really, my dear Saggay Saggayitch, I cannot grasp your difficulty. It is impossible for you to be in two places at once.тАЭ + 

тАЬMost impossible, indeed. Nu, if I shall wait here fourteen day, then, after, I must go to Isaev to speak him to give me my papaтАЩs money.тАЭ + 

тАЬWell, what of it? That was what you came for, primarily, was it not?тАЭ + 

тАЬYes indeed, very primarily. Yet yist too long time. My papa and my mamma very sad. Fourteen day here. Three four day Seoul. Ten day walking to Chi-tao-kou. Too long time.тАЭ + 

тАЬWell, why not make a quick trip to Seoul today or tomorrow, get your money and come back here?тАЭ + 

тАЬBut I speak Pavel Nicholaievitch and Varvara Alexeievna most certain sure I wait here fourteen day.тАЭ + 

тАЬWe seem to be arguing in a circle, my dear chap,тАЭ said Wilfred, still anxious to be helpful, yet conscious of a deadlock. + 

тАЬMr.┬аChew, I give you my papaтАЩs paper. You go to Seoul and speak Isaev give you my papaтАЩs money. So you bring back to me this money and after fourteen day, we go home.тАЭ + 

тАЬWith the greatest pleasure, my dear Saggay Saggayitch,тАЭ said Wilfred Chew, immediately. + 