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There was left nothing but a sense of shame and loathing and the consciousness, unmistakeable, that this time he had put an end to himself too. Six weeks later, the groom Perfishka thought it his duty to stop the commissioner of police as he happened to be passing Bezsonovo. 'What do you want? inquired the guardian of order.
The cook was dead, Perfishka himself made up his mind to abandon the house and go off to town, where he was constantly being persuaded to come by his cousin, apprenticed to a barber; when suddenly a rumour was set afloat that his master was coming back.
'I'll pay you your money, I'll pay it you in full to the last farthing, roared Tchertop-hanov, 'but I'll strangle you like any chicken if you don't tell me at once!... 'But you have strangled him already, master, observed the groom Perfishka humbly. Then only Tchertop-hanov came to his senses. He let go of the Jew's neck; the latter fell heavily to the ground.
'Let me know when he dies, the commissioner whispered to Perfishka as he went out of the room; 'and I suppose you can send for the priest now. You must observe due order; give him extreme unction. Perfishka went that same day for the priest, and the following morning he had to let the commissioner know: Panteley Eremyitch had died in the night.
Then, as he lay on his back and smoked a pipe, he mused on how he would lay out the rest of the money what dogs he would procure, real Kostroma hounds, spot and tan, and no mistake! He even had a little talk with Perfishka, to whom he promised a new Cossack coat, with yellow braid on all the seams, and went to bed in a blissful frame of mind.
'There, the miscreant who has parted us must look out for himself now! he muttered, as they drove out on the high-road. His house he left in the charge of Perfishka and an old cook, a deaf old peasant woman, whom he took care of out of compassion. 'I shall come back to you on Malek-Adel, he shouted to them at parting, 'or never come back at all!
Leading Malek-Adel after him by the rein, he went with long strides towards the stable. Perfishka looked more intently at his master, and his heart sank.
The hurdle-fence, enclosing Panteley Eremyitch's yard, had long been dilapidated, and in many places was bent and lying on the ground.... Beside the stable, it had been completely levelled for a good yard's width. Perfishka pointed this spot out to Tchertop-hanov. 'Master! look here; this wasn't like this to-day.
When they buried him, two men followed his coffin; the groom Perfishka and Moshel Leyba. The news of Tchertop-hanov's death had somehow reached the Jew, and he did not fail to pay this last act of respect to his benefactor. 'O native land of long suffering, Land of the Russian people. F. TYUTCHEV.
The day after his return, Panteley Eremyitch called Perfishka in to him, and for want of anyone else to talk to, began telling him keeping up, of course, his sense of his own dignity and his bass voice how he had succeeded in finding Malek-Adel.
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