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252 something entirely different when you boiled over like this."

"What can you tell me now seeing that that little joke didn't please me?"

"Just listen."

Kharko took his pipe out of his mouth, winked, and clicked his tongue so sympathetically the miller felt better at once.

"And you—did you love her though she was poor?"

"Yes, indeed I did!"

"Well, then, go on loving her to your heart's content after she has married the workman. And this is the end of my speech. You three will live at the mill together and the fourth fool won't count. Aha! Now you know whether I have brought you honey or gall, don't you? Yes indeed! Kharko's head is all right because he was always licked on the back. That's why he's such a clever fellow and knows who will get the kernel of the nut, who will get the shell, and who will get the pair of boots."

"But what if your plan shouldn't work?"

"Why shouldn't it work?"

"For lots of reasons. Perhaps old Makogon won't consent."

"Bah! Let me talk to him."

"Well, what would you say?"

"I'll tell you. I'd be on my way from the city with a load of vodka. He'd be coming toward me. We'd