at his feet and gleaming like a lamp, but he is afraid that his
hand will be slapped again.

"My respects to you!" Grisha hears suddenly, almost above his ear,
a loud thick voice, and he sees a tall man with bright buttons.

To his great delight, this man gives nurse his hand, stops, and
begins talking to her. The brightness of the sun, the noise of the
carriages, the horses, the bright buttons are all so impressively
new and not dreadful, that Grisha's soul is filled with a feeling
of enjoyment and he begins to laugh.

"Come along! Come along!" he cries to the man with the bright
buttons, tugging at his coattails.

"Come along where?" asks the man.

"Come along!" Grisha insists.

He wants to say that it would be just as well to take with them
papa, mamma, and the cat, but his tongue does not say what he wants
to.

A little later, nurse turns out of the boulevard, and leads Grisha
into a big courtyard where there is still snow; and the man with
the bright buttons comes with them too. They carefully avoid the
lumps of snow and the puddles, then, by a dark and dirty staircase,
they go into a room. Here there is a great deal of smoke, there is
a smell of roast meat, and a woman is standing by the stove frying
cutlets. The cook and the nurse kiss each other, and sit down on