accompanied us into the little back garden, where he seated himself
upon a bench, arranged his legs in a tasteful attitude, rested his
brass-knobbed cane between them, lighted a cigar, and assumed the air
of a man well-pleased with himself. He was a German, but of a very
different sort to our good Karl Ivanitch. In the first place, he spoke
both Russian and French correctly, though with a hard accent Indeed,
he enjoyed--especially among the ladies--the reputation of being a very
accomplished fellow. In the second place, he wore a reddish moustache,
a large gold pin set with a ruby, a black satin tie, and a very
fashionable suit. Lastly, he was young, with a handsome, self-satisfied
face and fine muscular legs. It was clear that he set the greatest store
upon the latter, and thought them beyond compare, especially as regards
the favour of the ladies. Consequently, whether sitting or standing, he
always tried to exhibit them in the most favourable light. In short,
he was a type of the young German-Russian whose main desire is to be
thought perfectly gallant and gentlemanly.

In the little garden merriment reigned. In fact, the game of "robbers"
never went better. Yet an incident occurred which came near to spoiling
it. Seriosha was the robber, and in pouncing upon some travellers he
fell down and knocked his leg so badly against a tree that I thought
the leg must be broken. Consequently, though I was the gendarme and
therefore bound to apprehend him, I only asked him anxiously, when I
reached him, if he had hurt himself very much. Nevertheless this threw
him into a passion, and made him exclaim with fists clenched and in a
voice which showed by its faltering what pain he was enduring, "Why,
whatever is the matter? Is this playing the game properly? You ought
to arrest me. Why on earth don't you do so?" This he repeated several
times, and then, seeing Woloda and the elder Iwin (who were taking the
part of the travellers) jumping and running about the path, he suddenly