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THE STEEL FLEA
Platoff made no reply, but merely buried his hooked nose in his shaggy felt cloak,[1] retired to his quarters, commanded his orderly to fetch a flask of Caucasian brandy—kizlyariki[2]—from the cellaret, tossed off a bumper, prayed to God before a holy picture which folded up for travelling, wrapped himself in his thick felt mantle, and began to snore so that not a single Englishman in all the house was able to sleep.
He said to himself: "The morning is wiser than the evening."
II
On the following day the Emperor and Platoff went to the museum. The Emperor took none of the other Russians with him, because he had been
- ↑ The burka, which is impenetrable to rain, and serves as blanket, also.
- ↑ Made from the kizil, a small sourish fruit which grows in the Caucasus and the Crimea.
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