Page 6 (1/1)

My darling mother, all in tears, told uard her child froer

I rapped up in a short touloup lined with hare-skin, and over that a pelisse lined fox-skin I tookbitter tears, set out for ht I arrived at Simbirsk, where I was to stay twenty-four hours, in order that Saveliitch htSaveliitch went to the shops, whilst I stayed in the inn Tired of gazing out of theupon a dirty little street, I rambled about the inn, and at last entered the billiard-rooe, with heavy blackhis pipe He was playing with the ained, and if he lost was to pass, on all-fours, under the billiard table I watched the The more they played the more frequent became the promenades on all-fours, so that finally the entleetic expression, as a funeral oration, and then proposed that I should play a game with him I declared that I did not kno to play billiards That seee to him He looked at me with commiseration

However, we opened a conversation I learned that his name was Ivan Zourine; that he was a chief of a squadron of Hussars stationed then at Si soldiers, and that his quarters were at my inn He invited me to mess with him, soldier-fashion, pot-luck I accepted with pleasure, and we sat down to dinner Zourine drank deeply, and invitedthat I arrison life which h till I held my sides, and we rose from the table intimate friends He then proposed to teach me how to play billiards "It is," said he, "indispensable for soldiers like ourselves For example, suppose we arrive in a tohat's to be done? We can not always make sport of the Jews As a last resort there is the inn and the billiard-room; but to play billiards, one must kno" These reasons convincedwith enthusiased ress, and after a few lesson he proposed to play for ain,to hireed Zourine ordered punch, which he advised me to taste in order to become used to the service, "for," said he, "what kind of service would that be without punch?"