"I have stolen."
"How was that? Where?" asked the priest, thoughtfully and without haste.
"At the church of the three bishops, at Pokrov, and at Nikoli."
"Well, that is in all the churches. That was wrong, my child; it was a sin. Do you understand?"
"I understand."
"Say, 'I have sinned.' What did you steal for? Was it for something to eat?"
"Sometimes and sometimes it was because I had lost money at play, and, as I had to take home some blessed bread, I stole it."
Father Dorimedont whispered something indistinctly and wearily, and then, after a few more questions, suddenly inquired sternly:
"Have you been reading forbidden books?"
Naturally I did not understand this question, and I asked: