Page:Leskov - The Sentry and other Stories.djvu/245

 Rh "Excellent!" he said. "Sit down to the pot of gruel yourself, and be my guest."

He asked me to be seated on a block of wood, and himself sat down on another, and placing my gruel on a bench between us said:

"Well, Vladyko, won't you partake of it with me? It's your gift and I bow to the ground and thank you for it."

So we began to partake of the gruel, the old monk and I, and conversed the while.