‘Alas, yes, our good Constantine is dead. But there are others. There’s a fellow whom I ought to hang.’
‘Ah!’ My eye wandered towards where Demetri hummed and polished.
‘And who has certainly not earned his life merely by bringing me to meet you this morning, though I give him some credit for that.’
‘Demetri?’ I asked with a careless air.
‘Well, yes, Demetri,’ smiled the Pasha. ‘Demetri is very open to reason.’
Across the current of our talk came Demetri’s soft happy humming. The Pasha heard it.
‘I hanged his brother three years ago,’ he observed.
‘I know you did,’ said I. ‘You seem to have done some characteristic things three years ago.’
‘And he went to the gallows humming that tune. You know it?’