"I am not going!" I said.
Larionich asked in an amazed undertone:
"What is this? You are not going?"
I told him about the affair. With an anxious frown he went upstairs, muttering to me:
"Oh, you impudent youngster—"
The workshop resounded with abuse of the shopman, and Kapendiukhin said:
"Well, they will kick you out this time!"
This did not alarm me. My relations with the shopman had already become unbearable. His hatred of me was undisguised and became more and more acute, while, for my part, I could not endure him. But what I wanted to know was: why did he behave so absurdly to me? He would throw coins about the floor of the shop, and when I was sweeping, I found them, and laid them on the counter in the cup which contained the small money kept for beggars. When I guessed what these frequent finds meant I said to him:
"You throw money about in my way on purpose!" He flew out at me and cried incautiously:
"Don't you dare to teach me! I know what I am doing!"