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He would make her walk on her hind legs, use her as a bell, that is, shake her violently by the tail so that she squealed and barked, and give her tobacco to sniff . . . . The following trick was particularly agonising: Fedyushka would tie a piece of meat to a thread and give it to Kashtanka, and then, when she had swallowed it he would, with a loud laugh, pull it back again from her stomach, and the more lurid were her memories the more loudly and miserably Kashtanka whined.
She thought of Luka Alexandritch, of his son Fedyushka, and her snug little place under the bench. . . . She remembered on the long winter evenings, when the carpenter was planing or reading the paper aloud, Fedyushka usually played with her. . . . He used to pull her from under the bench by her hind legs, and play such tricks with her, that she saw green before her eyes, and ached in every joint.
'Fedyushka! eh, Fedyushka! always asleep, said the head. The clerk on duty opened his eyes and got up from his seat. 'Nikolai Eremyitch has gone to the mistress? 'Yes, Vassily Nikolaevitch. 'Ah! ah! thought I; 'this is he, the head cashier. The head cashier began walking about the room. He really slunk rather than walked, and altogether resembled a cat.
"Kashtanka it is!" declared a cracked drunken tenor. "Kashtanka! Strike me dead, Fedyushka, it is Kashtanka. Kashtanka! here!" Someone in the gallery gave a whistle, and two voices, one a boy's and one a man's, called loudly: "Kashtanka! Kashtanka!" Auntie started, and looked where the shouting came from.
Fedyushka walked beside him, wearing his father's cap. Kashtanka looked at their backs, and it seemed to her that she had been following them for ages, and was glad that there had not been a break for a minute in her life.
And as for the ladies, I tell you, the ladies are something beyond everything!... and the young ladies above all!... 'Fedyushka! came the fat man's voice from the office. The clerk went out quickly. I drank a glass of tea, lay down on the sofa, and fell asleep. I slept for two hours. When I woke, I meant to get up, but I was overcome by laziness; I closed my eyes, but did not fall asleep again.
Fedyushka ran after the poodle with a chisel in his hand, then all at once he too was covered with shaggy wool, and began merrily barking beside Kashtanka. Kashtanka and he goodnaturedly sniffed each other's noses and merrily ran down the street. . . . New and Very Agreeable Acquaintances
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