hands, which were fixed to his sides, as by an iron belt; and indeed they were pinned by Kirsánof's right hand, while his left hand had Nicolas by the jaw, ready to clutch his throat, and Kirsánof was saying, "Just see how easily I can choke you." And he squeezed his gullet; and Nicolas perceived that it was a very easy thing for Kirsánof to choke him; but Kirsánof's hand has already left his throat. He can breathe freely; and yet Kirsánof's hand is at his throat. And Kirsánof addressing the Goliaths who appeared at the door, says: "Stay where you are, else I shall choke him! Get out of here, else I shall choke him!" All this Nicolas understood in the twinkling of an eye; he made a sign with his nose, which signified that Kirsánof was right in the case.
"Now, brother, see me down stairs," said Kirsánof, again turning to Nicolas, and continuing to embrace Nicolas as before. He went into the front room, went down stairs, followed from afar by the astonished gaze of the Goliaths, and on the last step he let go of Nicolas' throat, pushed Nicolas himself away, and went into a store to buy a cap, in place of the one which had remained as a prey in the possession of Nicolas.
Now, what difference can you find between such people? All their most prominent features are features not of individuals, but of a type; a type differing so greatly from that to which you are accustomed, sapient reader, that its general peculiarities hide the individual differences in them. These people when seen amongst others, are like Europeans among Chinamen, whom the Chinamen cannot distinguish apart. In all of them they see one characteristic, that they are "red-headed barbarians, who do not understand any ceremonies." In their eyes the French are just as red-headed as the English. And the Chinamen are right, as they look upon it; all Europeans are like any one European, not individuals, but representatives of a type, and nothing more. All of them alike do not eat cockroaches and centipedes; they are alike in not cutting people into little bits; they all alike drink brandy and wine made from grapes, and not from rice. And actually, even the one thing which the Chinamen see, is their native custom, the drinking of tea, practised in a diametrically different way from their way,—with sugar, and never without sugar.
Thus people of the type to which Lopukhóf and Kirsánof belong seem alike to people of a different type. Every one
