"Come, now, read about me!" exclaimed Foma, longing to hear
it.Yozhov rummaged among a pile of papers, tore out one sheet,
and holding it in both hands, stopped in front of Foma, with his
legs straddled wide apart, while Foma leaned back in the broken-
seated armchair and listened with a smile.
The notice about Foma started with a description of the spree on
the rafts, and during the reading of the notice Foma felt that
certain particular words stung him like mosquitoes. His face
became more serious, and he bent his head in gloomy silence. And
the mosquitoes went on multiplying.
"Now that's too much! "said he, at length, confused and
dissatisfied. "Surely you cannot gain the favour of God merely
because you know how to disgrace a man."
"Keep quiet! Wait awhile!" said Yozhov, curtly, and went on
reading.
Having established in his article that the merchant rises beyond
doubt above the representatives of other classes of society in
the matter of nuisance and scandal-making, Yozhov asked: "Why is
this so?" and replied:
"It seems to me that this predilection for wild pranks comes from
the lack of culture in so far as it is dependent upon the excess
of energy and upon idleness.
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