Page:Leskov - The Sentry and other Stories.djvu/275

 Rh "Yes, Bachka, twice baptized."

"What do you mean? Twice baptized? As if one is baptized twice?"

"Indeed, Bachka, they baptized twice."

"You lie."

"No, Bachka, it's true. He was baptized once for himself, and once for me."

"How for you? What nonsense you are talking."

"What nonsense, Bachka? No nonsense. I hid myself from priest, Bachka, and he baptized my brother instead of me."

"Why did you cheat in that way?"

"Because, Bachka, he is kind."

"Who is kind? Is your brother kind?"

"Yes, Bachka, my brother. He said: 'It's all the same, I am lost—baptized; hide—I will be baptized again'—so I hid."

"Where is your brother now?"

"He is gone to be baptized again."

"Where is this idle fellow off to now?"

"There, Bachka, where one hears a hard priest is travelling."

"Ho, ho! What has he got to do with this priest?"

"Our people are there, Bachka, our people live there, indeed good people, Bachka. He is sorry. Bachka sorry for them, Bachka—he has hurried to be baptized for them."