'and' . . . . when? . . . . 'under the late Field-Marshal Münich . . . . during the march . . . . also little Carolina?' Ha! ha! bruder! so he still remembers our old frolics? 'Now to business . . . . I send you my mad-cap' . . . . h'm! . . . . 'hold him with porcupine gloves!' . . . . Vat are porcupine glofes? Dis must be a Rooshan saying . . . . vat does it mean to holt vit porcupine glofes?" he repeated, turning to me.
"That means," replied I, assuming the most innocent air imaginable, "to treat him gently, without too great severity; to give him a good deal of liberty; to hold him with porcupine gloves."
"H'm; I understand . . . . and do not let him have too much liberty . . . . no; to hold vit porcupine glofes must have another signification! . . . . 'enclosed is his passport!' . . . . vy vere is it? Ah! here it is . . . . 'to attach him to the Semionoffsky Regiment.' All right, all right, it shall all pe tonn . . . . 'thou must allow me, laying rank aside, to embrace thee as an old friend and comrade.' . . . . Vell, at last; . . . . and so on, and so on . . . . Vell, sir," said he, having concluded the letter, and laying aside my passport, "it shall all pe tonn; dow shalt join dee *** Regiment, vit dee rank of officer, but so as not to loose any time, dow shalt go to-morrow to dee fortress of Byĕlogorsk, vere dow shalt pe unter dee orders of Captain Mironoff, a goot and honest man. Dere dow shalt know vat real service is; it will teash dee discipline. At Orenburg dere is no-ting for dee to too; amusements are prejuticial to a young mann. To-day, I beg dow wilt dine vit me."
