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"
"Come," Smolin nodded his head.
"We'll come up. They'll ring the bell soon. I must run to sell
the siskin," declared Yozhov, pulling out of his pocket a paper
package, wherein some live thing was struggling. And he
disappeared from the school-yard as mercury from the palm of a
hand.
"What a queer fellow he is!" said Foma, dumfounded by Yozhov's
adroitness and looking at Smolin interrogatively.
"He is always like this. He's very clever," the red-headed boy
explained.
"And cheerful, too," added Foma.
"Cheerful, too," Smolin assented. Then they became silent,
looking at each other.
"Will you come up with him to my house?" asked the red-headed boy.
"Yes."
"Come up. It's nice there."
Foma said nothing to this. Then Smolin asked him:
"Have you many friends?"
"I have none."
"Neither did I have any friends before I went to school. Only
cousins. Now you'll have two friends at once."
"Yes," said Foma.
"Are you glad?"
"I'm glad."
"When you have lots of friends, it is lively. And it is easier to
study, too--they prompt you.


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