He put a foot on each side of the trunk and bent over it, singing softly:
"Czaru nebesnui——"
I expected to see toys. I had never possessed any myself, and pretended to despise them, but not without a feeling of envy for those who did possess them. I was very pleased to think that Sascha, such a serious character, had toys, although he hid them shamefacedly; but I quite understood his shame.
Opening the first box, he drew from it the frame of a pair of spectacles, put them on his nose, and, looking at me sternly, said:
"It does not matter about there not being any glasses. This is a special kind of spectacle."
"Let me look through them."
"They would not suit your eyes. They are for dark eyes, and yours are light," he explained, and began to imitate the mistress scolding; but suddenly he stopped, and looked about the kitchen with an expression of fear.
In a blacking tin lay many different kinds of buttons, and he explained to me with pride:
"I picked up all these in the street. All by myself! I already have thirty-seven."
In the third box was a large brass pin, also found in the street; hobnails, worn-out, broken, and whole; buckles off shoes and slippers; brass door-handles, broken bone cane-heads; girls' fancy combs, 'The Dream Book and Oracle;' and many other things of similar value.