Ilya, standing by the desk, felt hurt that his master paid no further attention to him.
"Well, Ilya," said the merchant finally, after a long, painful silence, "let's have a chat. Tell me, though, have you ever seen Michael steal before?"
"Yes, rather! He stole all the time. Fish and all the rest."
"And why didn't you tell me?"
"I—I——" stammered Ilya, after a short pause.
"Afraid of him, eh?"
"No, I wasn't afraid."
"So—then why didn't you say 'Master, you're being robbed'?"
"I don't know. I didn't want to."
"H'm! You only told me just now out of temper?"