Page:Anthology of Modern Slavonic Literature in Prose and Verse by Paul Selver.djvu/72

48 She turned on her husband as well.

"Didn't I tell you not to let her marry a man without a beard. See, it's turned out just as I said."

The father looked cautiously at Saranin and did his utmost to change the conversation to politics.

"The Japanese," he said, "are of no great size to speak of, but to all appearance they are a brainy race, and even, you might almost say, enterprising."

And Saranin grew tinier and tinier. He could now walk freely under the table. And each day he became smaller still. He had not yet taken complete advantage of his leave, but he did not go to the office. They had not yet made preparations to travel anywhere.

Aglaya sometimes made fun of him, sometimes she cried and said:

"Where shall I take you in that state? The shame and disgrace of it!"

To pass from the study to the dining-room had become a journey of quite respectable proportions. And to climb up on a chair in the bargain