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For ato stop me from what I meant to do I didn't turn to Marius, because it would have been craven to ask his support in this, or assent to it I went on down the e, toward

s the tavern nearest to the river, where I thought ht be

I had rarely entered this place as a child, and then only to summon my Father hon people drank and cursed

It was a long building, s as my house, with the same mud for mortar, and the same inevitable seams and cracks to let in the dreadful cold Its roof was very high, with soht of the snow, and its eaves too dripped with icicles, as had those of my house

It marveled me that men could live like this, that the cold itself did not push the, but it had always been the way of this place, it seemed to ry, that the brutal winter took too ave thereatest virtue in the end

But I ht be wrong now What is ih it was not ugly, for wood and ly, it was a place without beauty except for the ikons, and perhaps for the distant outline of the graceful doainst the star-studded sky And that was not enough

When I entered the tavern, I counted so to one another with a conviviality that surprised iven the Spartan nature of this place, which was no ht which kept the fire There were no ikons here to co, and there was the inevitable harp player stru on a small pipe

There were many tables, some covered with linen, and others bare at which these fellows gathered, and soners, as I had recalled Three were Italian, I heard this instantly, and figured theners indeed than I had expected But these were men drawn by the trade of the river, and perhaps Kiev did not do so poorly just now

There were plenty of kegs of beer and wine behind the counter, where the bartender sold his stock by the cup I saw too many bottles of Italian wine, quite expensive no doubt, and crates of Spanish sack

Lest I attract notice, I moved forward and far off to the left, into the depth of the shadohere perhaps a European traveler clad in rich furthey did indeed seem to have

These people were et excited about the idea of a new custo on the palm of his upturned hand The music continued, another one of the dumy, and this oneat home, because I think the musician was very tired

I saw my Father

He lay on his back, full length, on a broad crude greasy bench, dressed in his leather jerkin and with his biggest heaviest fur cloak folded neatly over hih the others had done the honors with it after he had passed out This was bearskin, his cloak, which marked him as a pretty rich man

He snored in his drunken sleep, and the fumes of the drink rose froht beside him and looked down into his face

His cheeks though thinner were still rosy, but there were hollows beneath the bones, and there were streaks of gray,beard It seeone, and that his fine smooth broas steeper, but this may have been an illusion The flesh all around his eyes was tender-looking and dark His hands, clutched together beneath the cloak, were not visible to , of powerful build, and his love of drink had not destroyed him yet