innocence and inexperience!

My mother would have no jesting upon this point, and she in turn
complained to my father, who, like a man of business, promptly
ordered "that dog of a Frenchman" into his presence. The servant
informed him meekly that Beaupre was at the moment engaged in
giving me a lesson.

My father rushed to my room. Beaupre was sleeping upon his bed the
sleep of innocence. I was deep in a most interesting occupation.
They had brought from Moscow, for me, a geographical map, which
hung unused against the wall; the width and strength of its paper
had been to me a standing temptation. I had determined to make a
kite of it, and profiting that morning by Beaupre's sleep, I had set
to work. My father came in just as I was tying a tail to the Cape
of Good Hope! Seeing my work, he seized me by the ear and shook me
soundly; then rushing to Beaupre's bed, awakened him without
hesitating, pouring forth a volley of abuse upon the head of the
unfortunate Frenchman. In his confusion Beaupre tried in vain to
rise; the poor pedagogue was dead drunk! My father caught him by
the coat-collar and flung him out of the room. That day he was
dismissed, to the inexpressible delight of Saveliitch.

Thus ended my education. I now lived in the family as the eldest
son, not of age whose career is yet to open; amusing myself teaching
pigeons to tumble on the roof, and playing leap-frog in the stable-
yard with the grooms. In this way I reached my sixteenth year.

One Autumn day, my mother was preserving fruit with honey in the
family room, and I, smacking my lips, was looking at the liquid