After a hearty breakfast I left Liddon to rest and write
    letters, and went off shopping, &c., beginning with a call
    on Mr. Muir at No. 61, Galerne Ulitsa.  I took a
    drojky to the house, having first bargained with the
    driver for thirty kopecks; he wanted forty to begin
    with.  When we got there we had a little scene, rather a
    novelty in my experience of drojky-driving.  The
    driver began by saying “Sorok” (forty) as I got out;
    this was a warning of the coming storm, but I took no notice
    of it, but quietly handed over the thirty.  He received them
    with scorn and indignation, and holding them out in his open
    hand, delivered an eloquent discourse in Russian, of which
    sorok was the leading idea.  A woman, who stood by
    with a look of amusement and curiosity, perhaps understood
    him. I didn’t, but simply held out my hand for the
    thirty, returned them to the purse and counted out
    twenty-five instead.  In doing this I felt something like a
    man pulling the string of a shower-bath—­and the effect was
    like it—­his fury boiled over directly, and quite eclipsed
    all the former row.  I told him in very bad Russian that I
    had offered thirty once, but wouldn’t again; but this, oddly
    enough, did not pacify him.  Mr. Muir’s servant told him the
    same thing at length, and finally Mr. Muir himself came out
    and gave him the substance of it sharply and shortly—­but he
    failed to see it in a proper light.  Some people are very
    hard to please.

When staying at a friend’s house at Kronstadt he wrote:—­

Liddon had surrendered his overcoat early in the day, and when going we found it must be recovered from the waiting-maid, who only talked Russian, and as I had left the dictionary behind, and the little vocabulary did not contain coat, we were in some difficulty.  Liddon began by exhibiting his coat, with much gesticulation, including the taking it half-off.  To our delight, she appeared to understand at once—­left the room, and returned in a minute with—­a large clothes-brush.  On this Liddon tried a further and more energetic demonstration; he took off his coat, and laid it at her feet, pointed downwards (to intimate that in the lower regions was the object of his desire), smiled with an expression of the joy and gratitude with which he would receive it, and put the coat on again.  Once more a gleam of intelligence lighted up the plain but expressive features of the young person; she was absent much longer this time, and when she returned, she brought, to our dismay, a large cushion and a pillow, and began to prepare the sofa for the nap that she now saw clearly was the thing the dumb gentleman wanted.  A happy thought occurred to me, and I hastily drew a sketch representing Liddon, with one coat on,