A SUMMER ON THE YENESEI 175 



had the happy inspiration of condensed milk 1 The 

 woman was very ill for some hours, but towards 

 morning she took a turn for the better. Probably 

 she had judged the dose of poison very accurately, 

 and by giving him a good fright, hoped to reinstate 

 herself in the affections of Gerasim Androvitch. The 

 jealous differences of aunt and niece were finally settled 

 by the arrangement that they should both go down to 

 Krasnoyarsk together ; and therefore Gerasim was left 

 alone for the summer, with nobody but Marusia to look 

 after him. At first he was very forlorn, and having 

 nobody to talk to at home, he used to make evening 

 calls at our hut. He frequently walked in with a 

 courtly greeting just about supper-time, and sat there, 

 making agreeable conversation, while the meal was 

 prepared. There was no false shame about Gerasim 

 Androvitch. He was above the convention, so common 

 in our society, of making a pretence of taking leave in 

 order that he might be pressed to stay. He accepted 

 his invitation and his welcome as a matter of course. 

 His son, on the other hand, came very seldom. 

 When he did so, he would neither talk nor eat. The 

 most that anyone could draw out of him was a sedate : 

 " Nyet spessibo." Often he sat in silence for an hour 

 after the meal was finished, because he was too bashful 

 to get up and say good-bye. Generally he was too 

 busy to call. All day long, he and little Michael, the 

 servant, worked on the river-bank, piling up great stacks 

 of firewood for the winter, or else in building new sheds 

 to house the stores that Anastasia Ivanowna would 

 bring back from Krasnoyarsk ; and every evening they 



