"It surprises me, the way men judge," said Ilya mockingly and shrugged his shoulders. "A woman is to be a man's property, like a cow or a horse! Will you do what I want? All right, you shan't be beaten,—won't you? then crack! there's one on the head for you, devil! A woman is like a man, and has a character of her own."
Pavel looked at him and laughed hoarsely.
"Then who am I, am I no man?"
"Well, ought you to be just or not?"
"Oh, go to the devil with your old justice!" shouted Gratschev furiously, and sprang up again. "Be just, that's easy for the well fed, d'you hear? Now, good-bye."
He went quickly from the shop and in the doorway, for some reason, took off his cap. Ilya sprang from behind the counter after him, but already Gratschev was away down the street, holding his cap in his hand, and shaking it excitedly.
"Pavel!" cried Ilya. "Stop!"
He did not stop, nor turn round once, but turned into a side street, and disappeared.
Ilya turned slowly back and felt his face burn with the words of his friend as though he had looked into a hot oven.
"How angry he was!" said Gavrik.