“Go on talking,” he said calmly. “You fall asleep in the parlor once more! Then I’ll take you out into the yard, give you a whipping and pour water over you.…”

Life has its wisdom, its name is accident. Sometimes it rewards us, but more often it takes revenge on us, and just as the sun endows each object with a shadow, so the wisdom of life prepares retribution for man’s every act. This is true, this is inevitable, and we must all know and remember it.…

The day of retribution arrived for Vaska too.

One evening when the half-dressed girls were having their supper before going into the parlor, one of them, Lida Chernogorova, a spirited and malicious girl with chestnut hair, looked out of the window and declared:

“Vaska’s come.”

Several girls swore unhappily.

“Look!” Lida shouted. “He’s…drunk! He’s with a policeman.…Look!”

All dashed to the window.

“He’s being taken out of the droshky…he can’t walk.…Girls!” Lida shouted with joy. “He must have had an accident!”

The kitchen resounded with oaths and malicious laughter—the joyous laughter of revenge. The girls, pushing each other, dashed into the entry to meet the fallen enemy.

There they saw Vaska supported by the policeman and the driver. His face was gray, and there were large beads of perspiration on his forehead, and he was dragging his left leg.

“Vasily Mironych! What’s the matter with you?” cried the proprietress.

Vaska wagged his head helplessly and replied in a hoarse voice:

“I fell.…”

“He fell off a trolley…” explained the policeman. “He fell off, and his leg was caught under the wheel! Crack…and there you are!”

The girls held their peace, but their eyes burned like live coal.

They took Vaska upstairs to his room, put him to bed and sent for a doctor. The girls, standing beside the bed, exchanged glances, but did not say a word.

“Get out!” Vaska said to them.

No one budged.

“Ah! You’re glad!…”

“We won’t cry,” replied Lida with a smirk.

“Mistress, chase them out of here.…What have they…come for?”

“Afraid?” asked Lida, bending over him.

“Go, girls, go downstairs…” the madam ordered.