"I've just been in the kitchen to see
after the supper," he said to the
Frenchman. "I know you are fond
of fish, and I've a sturgeon, my
dear fellow, beyond everything! A
yard and a half long! Ha, ha, ha!
And, by the way . . . I was just
forgetting. . . . In the kitchen just now, with that sturgeon . . .
quite a little story! I went into the kitchen just now and wanted
to look at the supper dishes. I looked at the sturgeon and I
smacked my lips with relish . . . at the piquancy of it. And at the
very moment that fool Vankin came in and said: . . . 'Ha, ha, ha!
. . . So you're kissing here!' Kissing Marfa, the cook! What a thing
to imagine, silly fool! The woman is a perfect fright, like all the
beasts put together, and he talks about kissing! Queer fish!"
"Who's a queer fish?" asked the mathematics teacher, coming up.
"Why he, over there--Vankin! I went into the kitchen . . ."
And he told the story of Vankin. ". . . He amused me, queer fish!
I'd rather kiss a dog than Marfa, if you ask me," added Ahineev.
He looked round and saw behind him the junior assessor of taxes.
"We were talking of Vankin," he said. "Queer fish, he is! He went
into the kitchen, saw me beside Marfa, and began inventing all
sorts of silly stories. 'Why are you kissing?' he says. He must have
had a drop too much. 'And I'd rather kiss a turkeycock than
Marfa,' I said, 'And I've a wife of my own, you fool,' said I. He did
amuse me!"
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