Grigori, dishevelled and limp, crept out of the cab, sat on the ground and declared to us, the spectators of the scene, with tears:
"I am down on my knees; I have sinned greatly! I thought of sin, and I have sinned. Ephimushka says 'Grisha! Grisha! He speaks truly, but you—forgive me; I can treat you all. He says truly, 'We live once only, and no more.'"
The girl burst out laughing, stamped her feet, and lost her goloshes, and the driver called out gruffly:
"Let us get on farther! The horse won't stand still!"
The horse, an old, worn-out jade, was covered with foam, and stood as still as if it were buried. The whole scene was irresistibly comical.
Grigori's workmen rolled about with laughter as they looked at their master, his grand lady, and the bemused coachman.
The only one who did not laugh was Phoma, who stood at the door of one of the shops beside me and muttered:
"The devil take the swine. And he has a wife at home—a bee-eautiful woman!"
The driver kept on urging them to start. The girl got out of the cab, lifted Grigori up, set him on his feet, and cried with a wave of her sunshade:
"Go on!"