On the day of my arrival, Narkiz, having given me lunch and cleared the table, stood in the doorway, looked intently at me, and with some play of the eyebrows observed:

‘What are you going to do now, sir?’

‘Well, really, I don’t know. If Nikolai Petrovitch had kept his word and come, we should have gone shooting together.’

‘So you really expected, sir, that he would come at the time he promised?’

‘Of course I did.’

‘H’m.’ Narkiz looked at me again and shook his head as it were with commiseration. ‘If you ‘d care to amuse yourself with reading,’ he continued: ‘there are some books left of my old master’s; I’ll get them you, if you like; only you won’t read them, I expect.’

‘Why?’

‘They’re books of no value; not written for the gentlemen of these days.’

‘Have you read them?’

‘If I hadn’t read them, I wouldn’t have spoken about them. A dream-book, for instance ... that’s not much of a book, is it? There are others too, of course ... only you won’t read them either.’

‘Why?’

‘They are religious books.’

I was silent for a space.... Narkiz was silent too.

‘What vexes me most,’ I began, ‘is staying in the house in such weather.’

‘Take a walk in the garden; or go into the copse. We’ve a copse here beyond the threshing-floor. Are you fond of fishing?’

‘Are there fish here?’

‘Yes, in the pond. Loaches, sand-eels, and perches are caught there. Now, to be sure, the best time is over; July’s here. But anyway, you might try.... Shall I get the tackle ready?’

‘Yes, do please.’

‘I’ll send a boy with you ... to put on the worms. Or maybe I ‘d better come myself?’ Narkiz obviously doubted whether I knew how to set about things properly by myself.

‘Come, please, come along.’

Narkiz, without a word, grinned from ear to ear, then suddenly knitted his brows ... and went out of the room.