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Rh Serejka regarded his rents with a reproachful air and shook his head.

"Give me one of your skirts, that'll be better."

"Yes, I can," said Malva, laughing.

"I'm serious. You must have an old one you don't want."

"You'd do better to buy yourself a pair of trousers."

"I prefer to drink the money."

Serejka rose and, jingling his twenty kopeks, shuffled off, followed by a strange smile from Malva.

When he was some distance away, Iakov said:

"In our village such a braggart would soon have been put in his place. Here, every one seems afraid of him."

Malva looked at Iakov and replied, disdainfully: