“Yes, if you don’t beat ’em you make no way at all,” said Tchérévine sententiously, taking out his snuff-box once more. He took his pinches very slowly, with long pauses. “For all that, my lad, you behaved like a fool. Why, I myself—I came upon my wife with a lover. I made her come into the shed, and then I doubled up a halter and said to her:
“‘To whom did you swear to be faithful?—to whom did you swear it in church? Tell me that?’
“And then I gave it her with my halter—beat her and beat her for an hour and a half; till at last she was quite spent, and cried out:
“‘I’ll wash your feet and drink the water afterwards.’
“Her name was Crodotia.”
FOOTNOTES:
[5] Daubing the door of a house, where a young girl lives, is done to show that she is dishonoured.
[6] A mark of respect paid in Russia formerly, now disused.