shook hands with Maria Dmitrievna and Elizaveta Mikhailovna, lightly
tapped Gedeonovsky on the shoulder, and, turning on his heels, took
Lenochka's head between his hands and kissed her on the forehead.

"Are not you afraid to ride such a vicious horse?" asked Maria
Dmitrievna.

"I beg your pardon, it is perfectly quiet. No, but I will tell you
what I really am afraid of. I am afraid of playing at preference with
Sergius Petrovich. Yesterday, at the Bielenitsines', he won all the
money I had with me."

Gedeonovsky laughed a thin and cringing laugh; he wanted to gain the
good graces of the brilliant young official from St. Petersburg, the
governor's favorite. In his conversations with Maria Dmitrievna, he
frequently spoke of Panshine's remarkable faculties. "Why, really now,
how can one help praising him?" he used to reason. "The young man is
a success in the highest circles of society, and at the same time he
does his work in the most perfect manner, and he isn't the least bit
proud." And indeed, even at St. Petersburg, Panshine was looked upon
as an efficient public servant; the work "burnt under his hands;" he
spoke of it jestingly, as a man of the world should, who does not
attach any special importance to his employment; but he was a "doer."
Heads of departments like such subordinates; he himself never doubted
that in time, supposing he really wished it, he would be a Minister.

"You are so good as to say that I won your money," said Gedeonovsky;
"but who won fifteen roubles from me last week? And besides--"

"Ah, rogue, rogue!" interrupted Panshine, in a pleasant tone, but with