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More Tales from Tolstoi The main thing is, it's mucky out of doors and I've work to do, so I said to myself : ' Just ask Teddy for his boots, he won't want 'em any more, anyhow.' Now, say yourself : what good are they to you? " Something in the sick man's breast overflowed and buzzed, he bent over and gave himself up to a throaty coughing fit which he could not rid himself of. " Yes, indeed, what good are they to you ? " angrily and unexpectedly croaked the cook, her voice filled the room: "you haven't stirred from the stove this month and more, you know you're gone all to pieces ; why, your inside is all wrong, didn't you hear it just now? What does he want with new boots, he won't be buried in them, I suppose } And it's high time I think for you to pray the Lord to forgive you your sins. You're gone all to pieces I say. You can't take him from one room to another or anywhere else. I hear there are hospitals in town, but what's the good of that? — every corner is occupied, and he's about done for. There's no room for you, anyhow, and besides, they like to have clean folks." " Hello, Serega ! take your place, the gentlefolks are waiting ! " the voice of the post-station starosta shouted in at the door. Serega would have gone out without waiting for an answer, but he could see by the eyes of the sick man all the time he was coughing that he wanted to say something. " You may take the boots, Serega ! " said he, suppressing the cough and breathing a little more freely, " but listen ! buy me a head-stone when I die," he added hoarsely.