Thereupon the prince quitted the room, and crossed the yard to reach his coach-house. It really was time he did so, out of regard for the peace of mind of the other gentlemen. However, they also withdrew less than a quarter of an hour later.

Zazhmurin retired, but left a candle burning near the bed which was prepared for Burdyakin, his friend the captain-sipravnik, with whom one is already acquainted, and who, to the great astonishment of the judge, had not returned. However, at two o’clock in the morning there came a violent knocking at the gate in the courtyard. Zazhmurin awoke and sat up in bed. The three servants whom he had brought with him from the country were sleeping, fully dressed, on the floor of the anteroom. Zazhmurin roused them and despatched them to the gate, and a moment later Burdyakin entered like a bomb, pale, disordered, his hair unkempt, and a cloak for his only garment.

“Where have you been?” asked Zazhmurin, with mingled interest and anxiety.

“Oh, don’t speak of it! I have just come from a place where they will never catch me again. It is the first time in my life that I have been there, and it will be the last. Hey, there, some cold water! I cannot recover from my fright.”

“Tell me what is the matter with you.”

“Don’t ask me.”

“But your boots, your breeches, your cap?”

“Heaven be praised! I am safe and sound myself; the deuce take my effects! Hey, there, boy! Some ice, some ice, quick, and rub my back, the whole of my back!”

“There’s something amiss, I see; so I shall get up, and make a declaration to the police.”

“No, pray do nothing of the sort! In the name of heaven, do not stir! Another investigation—that would be a pretty mess. I have only been to a dancing-school; but if my wife knew that I had set foot in such an establishment, she would never let me come to the elections again. And then farewell to all my fine hopes!”

“What the deuce were you doing at a dancing-school?”

“Eh! There was a reason for my going there.”

“What reason? Come tell me all,” anxiously said the judge, putting on his dressing-gown and his velvet cap.

“I was at the marshal’s house,” replied Burdyakin, “and they were urging me to present myself as a candidate for one of the judgeships. I did not wish to do so. I repulsed their offers, but they continued to promise me their votes, and I felt on the point of yielding. ‘Bah!’ I said to myself, ‘I shall go to Khramikin’s and talk about something else.’ I arrive. I find him at home, and he says to me at once, ‘Bravo! let’s go to the dancing-school.’ ”

“So you went?”

“So we went. As he disposes of two votes, there is not much that one can refuse him in election time. The deuce knows to what school he took me! There was a great illumination and a lot of music, I know. It reminded me of my wedding; but my heart began beating in a very different manner, even in the ante- room. Ah! what a surprise; I beheld two lovely black eyes, and I was pressing my suit, when a big fellow with a stick came in; but——Oh, dear! oh, dear! oh, dear! Ahi, ahi, ahi! Softly there! lah, lah!”