"Tell me who is weeping there? What does he want, in this affair? Be still my friend and don't complain, But stuff your mouth with bread again."
Perfishka's face wore an expression of idiotic happiness. Ilya looked at him and felt disgust and fear. He thought in his heart that without a doubt God would punish the cobbler heavily for such behaviour on the day of his wife's death. But Perfishka was drunk the next day too, even behind his wife's coffin he reeled as he walked and winked and laughed. All held his conduct blameworthy, he was even struck in the face.
"Do you know," said Ilya to Jakov the day of the funeral, "Perfishka is a downright unbeliever!"
"Oh! bother him!" answered Jakov indifferently.
Ilya had noticed already that Jakov had altered considerably. He hardly ever appeared in the courtyard, but sat indoors all the time and seemed to take pains to avoid Ilya. At first Ilya thought that Jakov envied him his success at school and was sitting indoors over his school work. But he soon showed that he learned with even more difficulty than before; constantly his teacher had to reprove him for his inattention and his failure to understand the simplest things. Ilya did not wonder at Jakov's indifference over Perfishka, for Jakov took no special interest in the affairs of the house, but he did wish to understand what was passing in his friend's mind and he asked him:
"Why are you so down on me now? Don't you want to be friends?"
"I? Not be your friend? What on earth are you saying?" said Jakov taken aback, and then called quickly with an eager expression:
"See now, go into the house. I'm coming in a moment--I'll show you."
He jumped up and ran off, while Ilya went to his room in great perplexity.
Jakov soon appeared. He closed the door behind him, went to the window, and took a red book from his coat pocket.
"Come here!" he said, softly, with an important air, sitting down on Terenti's bed and making room for Ilya beside him. Then he opened the book, laid it on his knee, bent over it and began to read aloud, following the words along the grey paper with his finger:
"And sudden--suddenly the bold knight saw a mountain a long way off, so high that it reached to heaven, and midway up its slope was an iron tower. There the fire of his courage flamed up in his brave heart. He put his lance in rest and charged forward with a mighty shout, and sp--spurring his horse, he rushed with all his-gi--gigantic strength against the door. There was a--fearful clap of thunder--the iron tower flew into fragments, and at the same time there streamed out of the mountain fire and v--va--vapour, and a voice of thunder was heard, at which the earth trembled and the stones rolled from the mountain down to the horse's feet. 'Ha! Ha! Is it thou, bold madcap. Death and I have long awaited thee.' The knight was blinded with the fire and smoke."