When it was fully daylight the doctor and the examining magistrate put on their fur coats and felt boots, and, saying good-bye to their host, went out.

At the steps beside the coachman stood the familiar figure of the constable, Ilya Loshadin, with an old leather bag across his shoulder and no cap on his head, covered with snow all over, and his face was red and wet with perspiration. The footman who had come out to help the gentleman and cover their legs looked at him sternly and said:

“What are you standing here for, you old devil? Get away!”

“Your honour, the people are anxious,” said Loshadin, smiling naüvely all over his face, and evidently pleased at seeing at last the people he had waited for so long. “The people are very uneasy, the children are crying.… They thought, your honour, that you had gone back to the town again. Show us the heavenly mercy, our benefactors!…”

The doctor and the examining magistrate said nothing, got into the sledge, and drove to Syrnya.

1899