"an old peasant woman opened the door; she was busy lighting the ‘samovar’ in a tiny kitchen. she listened silently to my questions, did not understand a word, of course, and opened another door leading into a little bit of a room, low and scarcely furnished at all, but with a large, wide bed in it, hung with curtains. on this bed lay one terentich, as the woman called him, drunk, it appeared to me. on the table was an end of candle in an iron candlestick, and a half-bottle of vodka, nearly finished. terentich muttered something to me, and signed towards the next room. the old woman had disappeared, so there was nothing for me to do but to open the door indicated. i did so, and entered the next room.