"I do not know anything."

s.e.m.e.n wondered at him, and said:

"If only you are willing: people can learn anything."

"People work, and I, too, will work."

"What is your name?"

"Michael."

"Well, Mikhayla, you do not want to talk about yourself,--that is your business; but a man has to live. If you work as I order you, I will feed you."

"G.o.d save you, and I will learn. Show me what to do!"

s.e.m.e.n took the flax, put it on his fingers and began to make an end.

"It is not a hard thing to do, you see."

Mikhayla watched him, himself put the flax on his fingers, and made a thread end, as s.e.m.e.n had taught him.

s.e.m.e.n showed him how to wax it. Mikhayla again learned the way at once.

The master showed him how to weld the bristle, and how to whet, and Mikhayla learned it all at once.

No matter what work s.e.m.e.n showed to him, he grasped it at once, and on the third day he began to sew as though he had done nothing else in all his life. He worked without unbending himself, ate little, between the periods of work kept silence, and all the time looked toward the sky. He did not go into the street, spoke no superfluous word, and did not jest or laugh.

Only once was he seen to smile, and that was the first evening, when the woman gave him a supper.

VI.

Day was added to day, week to week, and the circle of a year went by.

Mikhayla was living as before with s.e.m.e.n, and working. And the report spread about s.e.m.e.n's workman that n.o.body sewed a boot so neatly and so strongly as he. And people from all the surrounding country began to come to s.e.m.e.n for boots, and s.e.m.e.n's income began to grow.

One time, in the winter, s.e.m.e.n was sitting with Mikhayla and working, when a troyka with bells stopped at the door. They looked through the window: the carriage had stopped opposite the hut, and a fine lad jumped down from the box and opened the carriage door. Out of the carriage stepped a gentleman in a fur coat. He came out of the carriage, walked toward s.e.m.e.n's house, and went on the porch. Up jumped Matrena and opened the door wide. The gentleman bent his head and entered the hut; he straightened himself up, almost struck the ceiling with his head, and took up a whole corner.

s.e.m.e.n got up, bowed to the gentleman, and wondered what he wanted. He had not seen such men. s.e.m.e.n himself was spare-ribbed, and Mikhayla was lean, and Matrena was as dry as a chip, while this one was like a man from another world: his face was red and blood-filled, his neck like a bull's, and altogether he looked as though cast in iron.

The gentleman puffed, took off his fur coat, seated himself on a bench, and said:

"Who is the master shoemaker?"

s.e.m.e.n stepped forward, and said:

"I, your Excellency."

The gentleman shouted to his lad:

"Oh, Fedka, let me have the material!"

The lad came running in and brought a bundle. The gentleman took it and put it on the table.

"Open it!" he said.

The lad opened it. The gentleman pointed to the material, and said to s.e.m.e.n:

"Listen now, shoemaker! Do you see the material?"

"I do," he said, "your Honour."

"Do you understand what kind of material this is?"

s.e.m.e.n felt of it, and said:

"It is good material."

"I should say it is! You, fool, have never seen such before. It is German material: it costs twenty roubles."

s.e.m.e.n was frightened, and he said:

"How could we have seen such?"

"That's it. Can you make me boots to fit my feet from this material?"

"I can, your Honour."

The gentleman shouted at him:

"That's it: you can. You must understand for whom you are working, and what material you have to work on. Make me a pair of boots that will wear a year without running down or ripping. If you can, undertake it and cut the material; if you cannot, do not undertake it and do not cut the material. I tell you in advance: if the boots wear off or rip before the year is over, I will put you into jail; if they do not wear off or rip for a year, I will give you ten roubles for the work."

s.e.m.e.n was frightened and did not know what to say. He looked at Mikhayla. He nudged him with his elbow, and said:

"Friend, what do you say?"

Mikhayla nodded to him: "Take the work!"

s.e.m.e.n took Mikhayla's advice and undertook to make a pair of boots that would not wear down or rip.

The gentleman shouted at his lad, told him to pull off the boot from his left foot, and stretched out his leg.

"Take the measure!"

s.e.m.e.n sewed together a piece of paper, ten inches in length, smoothed it out, knelt down, carefully wiped his hand on his ap.r.o.n so as not to soil the gentleman's stocking, and began to measure. He measured the sole, then the instep, and then the calf, but there the paper was not long enough. His leg at the calf was as thick as a log.

"Be sure and do not make them too tight in the boot-leg!"

s.e.m.e.n sewed up another piece to the strip. The gentleman sat and moved his toes in his stocking, and watched the people in the room. He caught sight of Mikhayla.

"Who is that man there?" he asked.