TWO COUNTRY GENTLEMEN
'I never drink it, sir,' the priest muttered in confusion, blushing up to his ears.
'What nonsense!' answered Mardary Apollonitch; 'Mishka! Yushka! vodka for the father!'
Yushka, a tall, thin old man of eighty, came in with a glass of vodka on a dark-coloured tray, with a few patches of flesh-colour on it, all that was left of the original enamel.
The priest began to decline.
'Come, drink it up, father, no ceremony; it's too bad of you,' observed the landowner reproachfully.
The poor young man had to obey.
'There, now, father, you may go.'
The priest took leave.
'There, there, that'll do, get along with you. . . .'
'A capital fellow,' pursued Mardary Apollonitch, looking after him, 'I like him very much; there's only one thing—he's young yet. But how are you, my dear sir? . . . What have you been doing? How are you? Let's come out on to the balcony—such a lovely evening.'
We went out on the balcony, sat down, and began to talk. Mardary Apollonitch glanced below, and suddenly fell into a state of tremendous excitement.
'Whose hens are those? whose hens are those?' he shouted: 'Whose are those hens roaming about in the garden? . . . Whose are those hens? How many times I've forbidden it! How many times I've spoken about it!'
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