He was pleasantly different from the people among whom I lived. I felt that he had a firm belief in my readiness to steal, and I agreed to hand him the goloshes through the window.
"That's right," he said calmly, without enthusiasm. "You are not deceiving me? No, I see that you are not."
He was silent for a moment, trampling the dirty, wet snow with the soles of his boots. Then he lit a long pipe, and suddenly startled me.
"But suppose it is I who deceive you? Suppose I take the goloshes to your master, and tell him that you have sold them to me for half a ruble? What then? Their price is two rubles, and you have sold them for half a ruble. As a present, eh?"
I gazed at him dumbly, as if he had already done what he said he would do; but he went on talking gently through his nose, looking at his boots, and blowing out blue smoke.
"Suppose, for example, that your master has said to me, 'Go and try that youngster, and see if he is a thief? What then?"
"I shall not give you the goloshes," I said, angry and frightened.
"You must give them now that you have promised."
He took me by the arm and drew me to him, and, tapping my forehead with his cold fingers, drawled:
"What are you thinking of, with your 'take this' and 'take that'?"