Yes, friend, Africashka is a liberal. And a
liberal merchant is a mixture of a wolf and a pig with a toad and
a snake."
"The devil take them all!" said Foma, waving his hand
indifferently. "What have I to do with them? How about yourself--
do you still keep on drinking?"
"I do! Why shouldn't I drink?"
Half-clad and dishevelled, Yozhov looked like a plucked bird,
which had just had a fight and had not yet recovered from the
excitement of the conflict.
"I drink because, from time to time, I must quench the fire of my
wounded heart. And you, you damp stump, you are smouldering
little by little?"
"I have to go to the old man," said Foma, wrinkling his face.
"Chance it!"
"I don't feel like going. He'll start to lecture me."
"Then don't go!"
"But I must."
"Then go!"
"Why do you always play the buffoon? " said Foma, with
displeasure, "as though you were indeed merry."
"By God, I feel merry!" exclaimed Yozhov, jumping down from the
table. "What a fine roasting I gave a certain gentleman in the
paper yesterday! And then--I've heard a clever anecdote: A
company was sitting on the sea-shore philosophizing at length
upon life.
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