Page:Leo Tolstoi - Life Is Worth Living and Other Stories - tr. Adolphus Norraikow (1892).djvu/138

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Two Old Men.
131

he again espied his old friend Elissey Bodroff. He stood in exactly the same place as before, with his hands outstretched in supplication to God—in the same attitude which the priests assume before the altar—and his bald head glistening under the lamps as if surrounded with a halo of glory.

"Now," said Euthymus, as he pushed his way hastily through the crowd, "I must not let him escape me this time."

When he reached the spot, however, Elissey was nowhere to be seen.

On the third day Euthymus again attended the services in the Temple, when he was once more favored with a glimpse of Elissey standing just where he had stood the previous day. He was looking upward, as if his attention were concentrated upon some object in the dome of the Temple. The top of his head was the brightest object to be seen in the vast assemblage.

"Well," said Euthymus, with determination, "he will certainly not get away from me now.