THAT WRETCHED BOY
Ivan Ivanich Lapkin, a pleasant looking young man, and Anna Zamblizky, a young girl with a little snub nose, walked down the sloping bank and sat down on the bench. The bench was close to the water's edge, among thick bushes of young willow. A heavenly spot! You sat down, and you were hidden from the world. Only the fish could see you and the catspaws which flashed over the water like lightning. The two young persons were equipped with rods, fish hooks, bags, tins of worms and everything else necessary. Once seated, they immediately began to fish.
"I am glad that we're left alone at last," said Lapkin, looking round. I've got a lot to tell you, Anna—tremendous . . . when I saw you for the first time . . . you've got a nibble . . . I understood then why I am alive, I knew where my idol was, to whom I can devote my honest, hard-working life. . . It must be a big one . . . it is biting . . . When I saw you—for the first time in my life I fell in love fell in love passionately! Don't pull. Let it go on biting . . . Tell me,
