"What is there to be seen at Kiev?" inquired the "guid man" meditatively.
"The holy relics."
The "guid man" looked at Promtov in silence and spat. Then after a pause he asked:
"And from whence do you come?"
"I from Petersburg, he from Moscow," answered Promtov.
"All that way?"—the "guid man" raised his brows. "And what's Petersburg like? Folks say that it is built upon the sea and that it is often under water."[4]
Here the door opened and two other khokhli[5] came in.
"We want a word with you, Michael," said one of them.
"What have you got to say to me?"
"It's this—who are these people?"