My parents gave me their blessing, and my father said to me—­

“Good-bye, Petr’; serve faithfully he to whom you have sworn fidelity; obey your superiors; do not seek for favours; do not struggle after active service, but do not refuse it either, and remember the proverb, ’Take care of your coat while it is new, and of your honour while it is young.’”

My mother tearfully begged me not to neglect my health, and bade Saveliitch take great care of the darling.  I was dressed in a short “touloup"[10] of hareskin, and over it a thick pelisse of foxskin.  I seated myself in the kibitka with Saveliitch, and started for my destination, crying bitterly.

I arrived at Simbirsk during the night, where I was to stay twenty-four hours, that Saveliitch might do sundry commissions entrusted to him.  I remained at an inn, while Saveliitch went out to get what he wanted.  Tired of looking out at the windows upon a dirty lane, I began wandering about the rooms of the inn.  I went into the billiard room.  I found there a tall gentleman, about forty years of age, with long, black moustachios, in a dressing-gown, a cue in his hand, and a pipe in his mouth.  He was playing with the marker, who was to have a glass of brandy if he won, and, if he lost, was to crawl under the table on all fours.  I stayed to watch them; the longer their games lasted, the more frequent became the all-fours performance, till at last the marker remained entirely under the table.  The gentleman addressed to him some strong remarks, as a funeral sermon, and proposed that I should play a game with him.  I replied that I did not know how to play billiards.  Probably it seemed to him very odd.  He looked at me with a sort of pity.  Nevertheless, he continued talking to me.  I learnt that his name was Ivan Ivanovitch[11] Zourine, that he commanded a troop in the ——­th Hussars, that he was recruiting just now at Simbirsk, and that he had established himself at the same inn as myself.  Zourine asked me to lunch with him, soldier fashion, and, as we say, on what Heaven provides.  I accepted with pleasure; we sat down to table; Zourine drank a great deal, and pressed me to drink, telling me I must get accustomed to the service.  He told good stories, which made me roar with laughter, and we got up from table the best of friends.  Then he proposed to teach me billiards.

“It is,” said he, “a necessity for soldiers like us.  Suppose, for instance, you come to a little town; what are you to do?  One cannot always find a Jew to afford one sport.  In short, you must go to the inn and play billiards, and to play you must know how to play.”

These reasons completely convinced me, and with great ardour I began taking my lesson.  Zourine encouraged me loudly; he was surprised at my rapid progress, and after a few lessons he proposed that we should play for money, were it only for a “groch” (two kopeks),[12] not for the profit, but that we might not play for nothing, which, according to him, was a very bad habit.