A SUMMER ON THE YENESEI 97 



storehouses and sheds. All around, partly covered by 

 the kindly grass, the hillside was littered with all the 

 ugly jettison of the household for the past seventeen 

 years. None of the Siberiaks seemed to care at all 

 about the outside appearance of their houses. Some, 

 which were models of neatness indoors, stood literally 

 in the middle of a rubbish heap of old boots, bones, 

 rags, and broken crockery ; and even the Antonoffs 

 were no better than their neighbours in this respect. 

 But it was not only the dirt and disorder which made 

 the home of Prokopchuk a depressing place to visit. It 

 was rather that there was something in the atmosphere 

 of the house and of its inhabitants. Why this should 

 have been it is difficult to say, for whenever we went 

 there we were always received hospitably, even by 

 Anastasia Ivanowna, while Gerasim Androvitch was 

 geniality itself. 



Gerasim Androvitch was the most striking person- 

 ality in Golchika. Well over six feet in height, 

 upright as a fir tree, and with a military-looking 

 white moustache, he looked for all the world like a 

 Field-Marshal. His manners were polished to the last 

 degree, and his tact was unfailing. A greater contrast 

 to Antonoff could scarcely be imagined. They stood 

 at opposite poles. Antonoff 's mien was open and 

 hearty : he was short and thick set. Prokopchuk 

 was tall and stately. Antonoff had been an exile : 

 Prokopchuk had been a gendarme. Antonoff was as 

 honest as the day : Prokopchuk — but more of that 

 anon. Of the two, Prokopchuk had incomparably the 

 finer presence. Antonoff 's downright sincerity had 



