Page:The Kiss and Other Stories by Anton Tchekhoff, 1908.pdf/186

 “Give me some oysters!” I cried, seizing my father's coat-tails.

“And so yoii eat oysters! Such a little whipper-snapper!” I heard a voice beside me.

Before me stood two men in silk hats, and looked at me with a laugh.

“Do you mean to say that this little manikin eats oysters? Really! This is too delightful! How does he eat them?”

I remember a strong hand dragged me into the glaring restaurant. In a minute a crowd had gathered, and looked at me with curiosity and amusement. I sat at a table, and ate something slippy, damp, and mouldy. I ate greedily, not chewing, not daring to look, not even knowing what I ate. It seemed to me that if I opened my eyes, I should see at once the bright eyes, the claws, the sharp teeth.

I began to chew something hard. There was a crunching sound.

“Good heavens, he's eating the shells!” laughed the crowd. “Donkey, who ever heard of eating oyster shells?”

After this, I remember only my terrible thirst. I lay on my bed, kept awake by repletion, and by a strange taste in my hot mouth. My father walked up and down the room and gesticulated.

“I have caught cold, I think!” he said. “I feel something queer in my head. . . . As if there is