right side of the boulevard the wife of a local official was walking
along the pavement with her son, a schoolboy.

"Good-morning, Marya Konstantinovna," Samoylenko shouted to her
with a pleasant smile. "Have you been to bathe? Ha, ha, ha! . . .
My respects to Nikodim Alexandritch!"

And he went on, still smiling pleasantly, but seeing an assistant
of the military hospital coming towards him, he suddenly frowned,
stopped him, and asked:

"Is there any one in the hospital?"

"No one, Your Excellency."

"Eh?"

"No one, Your Excellency."

"Very well, run along. . . ."

Swaying majestically, he made for the lemonade stall, where sat a
full-bosomed old Jewess, who gave herself out to be a Georgian, and
said to her as loudly as though he were giving the word of command
to a regiment:

"Be so good as to give me some soda-water!"

II