STOPPED BY THE POLICE. 193 



stamped it at once as an accomplishment acquired by 

 long and daily practice. 



The givers of bribes seemed to be mostly ignorant 

 moujiks from the country. Among the applicants of 

 the morning was a moujik who had neglected to renew 

 his passport at the proper time. Passports have to be 

 renewed at regular intervals, and a person who absents 

 himself for any length of time beyond brings down 

 on himself the suspicions of the authorities in addition 

 to penalties and fines. The " children " of the Czar, 

 like any other children, are forever doing some foolish 

 thing or other that would get them into trouble should 

 it come to the paternal knowledge. Anyhow, it is ex- 

 tremely uncomfortable to come under the ban of sus- 

 picion, and above all things else the moujik dreads 

 anything that will bring him conspicuously to the 

 notice of the police. 



The moujik in question stood, apparently, perilously 

 near the precipice of police suspicion, as the bald head 

 of the little secretary protruded once again above the 

 white collar and scrutinized the group against the door, 

 and slightly nodded. The moujik stepped forward, and, 

 touching his top-knot with the hand that held his cap, 

 handed the secretary a tattered document. It was his 

 passport, that should have been renewed some time 

 before. 



The secretary whirled round in his chair, and, look- 

 ing the delinquent full in the face, shot from the 

 depths of his big, lack-luster eyes a look that spoke 

 plainer than printed words. The moujik very likely 

 could not have read print, but he readily understood 

 the secretary's look, and, in fact, had been expecting it, 



