第21章 VII

IVAN MIRONOV had to spend the night in the po-lice-station, in the company of drunkards and thieves. It was noon of the next day when he was summoned to the police officer; put through a close examination, and sent in the care of a po-liceman to Eugene Mihailovich's shop. Ivan Mi-ronov remembered the street and the house.

The policeman asked for the shopkeeper, showed him the coupon and confronted him with Ivan Mironov, who declared that he had received the coupon in that very place. Eugene Mihailo-vich at once assumed a very severe and astonished air.

"You are mad, my good fellow," he said. "I have never seen this man before in my life," he added, addressing the policeman.

"It is a sin, sir," said Ivan Mironov " Think of the hour when you will die."

"Why, you must be dreaming I You have sold your firewood to some one else," said Eu-gene Mihailovich. "But wait a minute. I will go and ask my wife whether she bought any fire-wood yesterday " Eugene Mihailovich left them and immediately called the yard-porter Vassily, a strong, handsome, quick, cheerful, well-dressed man.

He told Vassily that if any one should inquire where the last supply of firewood was bought, he was to say they'd got it from the stores, and not from a peasant in the street.

"A peasant has come," he said to Vassily, "who has declared to the police that I gave him a forged coupon. He is a fool and talks non-sense, but you, are a clever man. Mind you say that we always get the firewood from the stores.

And, by the way, I've been thinking some time of giving you money to buy a new jacket," added Eu-gene Mihailovich, and gave the man five roubles.

Vassily looking with pleasure first at the five rou-ble note, then at Eugene Mihailovich's face, shook his head and smiled.

"I know, those peasant folks have no brains.

Ignorance, of course. Don't you be uneasy. I know what I have to say."

Ivan Mironov, with tears in his eyes, implored Eugene Mihailovich over and over again to ac-knowledge the coupon he had given him, and the yard-porter to believe what he said, but it proved quite useless; they both insisted that they had never bought firewood from a peasant in the street. The policeman brought Ivan Mironov back to the police-station, and he was charged with forging the coupon. Only after taking the ad-vice of a drunken office clerk in the same cell with him, and bribing the police officer with five rou-bles, did Ivan Mironov get out of jail, without the coupon, and with only seven roubles left out of the twenty-five he had the day before.

Of these seven roubles he spent three in the public-house and came home to his wife dead drunk, with a bruised and swollen face.

His wife was expecting a child, and felt very ill. She began to scold her husband; he pushed her away, and she struck him. Without answer-ing a word he lay down on the plank and began to weep bitterly.

Not till the next day did he tell his wife what had actually happened. She believed him at once, and thoroughly cursed the dastardly rich man who had cheated Ivan. He was sobered now, and remembering the advice a workman had given him, with whom he had many a drink the day before, decided to go to a lawyer and tell him of the wrong the owner of the photograph shop had done him.