"Well, my friend, I see that you are jealous, but the fact is I'm going to be an inspector and you aren't!"
Volodin, with an insinuating look on his face, had replied:
"Each to his own. You're a specialist in your business and I in mine."
"Our Natashka," said Varvara, "went straight from us and got a place with the Officer of the gendarmes."
Peredonov trembled, and his face had an expression of fear.
"Are you telling a lie?" he demanded.
"Why should I want to tell you a lie about that?" answered Varvara. "You can go and ask him yourself, if you like."
This unpleasant news was confirmed by Grushina. Peredonov was stupefied with astonishment. It was impossible to know what she might say, and then the gendarmes would take up the matter and report it to the authorities. It was a bad look-out.
At the same second Peredonov's eyes rested on the shelf under the sideboard. There stood several bound volumes: the thin ones were the works of Pisarev and the larger ones were the "Annals of the Fatherland."[4] Peredonov went pale and said:
"I must hide those books or I shall be reported."