SHROVE TUESDAY
THE OLD HOUSE
IN PASSION WEEK
WHITEBROW
KASHTANKA
A CHAMELEON
THE DEPENDENTS
WHO WAS TO BLAME?
THE BIRD MARKET
AN ADVENTURE
THE FISH
ART
THE SWEDISH MATCH




THE COOK'S WEDDING

GRISHA, a fat, solemn little person of seven, was standing by the
kitchen door listening and peeping through the keyhole. In the
kitchen something extraordinary, and in his opinion never seen
before, was taking place. A big, thick-set, red-haired peasant,
with a beard, and a drop of perspiration on his nose, wearing a
cabman's full coat, was sitting at the kitchen table on which they
chopped the meat and sliced the onions. He was balancing a saucer
on the five fingers of his right hand and drinking tea out of it,
and crunching sugar so loudly that it sent a shiver down Grisha's
back. Aksinya Stepanovna, the old nurse, was sitting on the dirty
stool facing him, and she, too, was drinking tea. Her face was