The service was over; Yegorushka walked out of the church in a leisurely way, and began strolling about the market-place.  He had seen a good many villages, market-places, and peasants in his time, and everything that met his eyes was entirely without interest for him.  At a loss for something to do, he went into a shop over the door of which hung a wide strip of red cotton.  The shop consisted of two roomy, badly lighted parts; in one half they sold drapery and groceries, in the other there were tubs of tar, and there were horse-collars hanging from the ceiling; from both came the savoury smell of leather and tar.  The floor of the shop had been watered; the man who watered it must have been a very whimsical and original person, for it was sprinkled in patterns and mysterious symbols.  The shopkeeper, an overfed-looking man with a broad face and round beard, apparently a Great Russian, was standing, leaning his person over the counter.  He was nibbling a piece of sugar as he drank his tea, and heaved a deep sigh at every sip.  His face expressed complete indifference, but each sigh seemed to be saying: 

“Just wait a minute; I will give it you.”

“Give me a farthing’s worth of sunflower seeds,” Yegorushka said, addressing him.

The shopkeeper raised his eyebrows, came out from behind the counter, and poured a farthing’s worth of sunflower seeds into Yegorushka’s pocket, using an empty pomatum pot as a measure.  Yegorushka did not want to go away.  He spent a long time in examining the box of cakes, thought a little and asked, pointing to some little cakes covered with the mildew of age: 

“How much are these cakes?”

“Two for a farthing.”

Yegorushka took out of his pocket the cake given him the day before by the Jewess, and asked him: 

“And how much do you charge for cakes like this?”

The shopman took the cake in his hands, looked at it from all sides, and raised one eyebrow.

“Like that?” he asked.

Then he raised the other eyebrow, thought a minute, and answered: 

“Two for three farthings. . . .”

A silence followed.

“Whose boy are you?” the shopman asked, pouring himself out some tea from a red copper teapot.

“The nephew of Ivan Ivanitch.”

“There are all sorts of Ivan Ivanitchs,” the shopkeeper sighed.  He looked over Yegorushka’s head towards the door, paused a minute and asked: 

“Would you like some tea?”

“Please. . . .”  Yegorushka assented not very readily, though he felt an intense longing for his usual morning tea.

The shopkeeper poured him out a glass and gave him with it a bit of sugar that looked as though it had been nibbled.  Yegorushka sat down on the folding chair and began drinking it.  He wanted to ask the price of a pound of sugar almonds, and had just broached the subject when a customer walked in, and the shopkeeper, leaving his glass of tea, attended to his business.  He led the customer into the other half, where there was a smell of tar, and was there a long time discussing something with him.  The customer, a man apparently very obstinate and pig-headed, was continually shaking his head to signify his disapproval, and retreating towards the door.  The shopkeeper tried to persuade him of something and began pouring some oats into a big sack for him.