Chapter 10 - Page 2

"You live here, yet you cannot say for certain! And why is the
picture there at all? And why do its eyes look so crooked?"

To all these questions the landlord could return no satisfactory
reply, despite his floundering endeavours.

"The blockhead!" exclaimed the Grandmother in Russian.

Then she proceeded on her way--only to repeat the same story in
front of a Saxon statuette which she had sighted from afar, and
had commanded, for some reason or another, to be brought to her.
Finally, she inquired of the landlord what was the value of the
carpet in her bedroom, as well as where the said carpet had been
manufactured; but, the landlord could do no more than promise to
make inquiries.

"What donkeys these people are!" she commented. Next, she
turned her attention to the bed.

"What a huge counterpane!" she exclaimed. "Turn it back,
please." The lacqueys did so.

"Further yet, further yet," the old lady cried. "Turn it RIGHT
back. Also, take off those pillows and bolsters, and lift up the
feather bed."

The bed was opened for her inspection.

"Mercifully it contains no bugs," she remarked.

"Pull off the whole thing, and then put on my own pillows and
sheets. The place is too luxurious for an old woman like myself.
It is too large for any one person. Alexis Ivanovitch, come and
see me whenever you are not teaching your pupils,"

"After tomorrow I shall no longer be in the General's
service," I replied, "but merely living in the hotel on my own
account."

"Why so?"

"Because, the other day, there arrived from Berlin a German and
his wife--persons of some importance; and, it chanced that, when
taking a walk, I spoke to them in German without having properly
compassed the Berlin accent."

"Indeed?"

"Yes: and this action on my part the Baron held to be an
insult, and complained about it to the General, who yesterday
dismissed me from his employ."

"But I suppose you must have threatened that precious Baron, or
something of the kind? However, even if you did so, it was a
matter of no moment."

"No, I did not. The Baron was the aggressor by raising his
stick at me."

Upon that the Grandmother turned sharply to the General.

"What? You permitted yourself to treat your tutor thus, you
nincompoop, and to dismiss him from his post? You are a
blockhead--an utter blockhead! I can see that clearly."

"Do not alarm yourself, my dear mother," the General replied
with a lofty air--an air in which there was also a tinge of
familiarity. "I am quite capable of managing my own affairs.
Moreover, Alexis Ivanovitch has not given you a true account of
the matter."

"What did you do next?"