Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1902-02-08
THE SLANDERER.
by ANTON CHEKnov.


Sergey Kapitonich Akhineyev, the
teacher of caligraphy, gave his daughter
Natalya in marriage to the teacher of
history and geography. Ivan Petrovich
LOshadinikh. The wedding feast went
on swimmingly. They sang, played and
danced in the parlor Walters, hired for
the occasion from the club hustled about
hither and thithcr like madmen. in black
frock coats and soiled white neckties. 4
loud noise of voices smote the air. From
the outside people looked in at the Win
| dows-their social standing gave them 10
right to enter.
| Just at midnight the host, Akhineyev,
made his way to the kitchen to see
whether everything was ready for the
| supper. The kitchen was filled with
smoke from the floor to the ceiling; the
smoke consisted of the odors of geese,
ducks and many other things. Nictuals
ana beverages were scattered mp ON two
tables i'll artistic disorder. Marta, the
cook, Il stout. redfaced woman, was
busylng herself near the tables
SHOW me the sturgeon, dear said
Akhlneyey, rubbing his hands and lick
ing his lips. What a fine odor! l could
Just deyour the whole kitchen! Well,
let me see the sturgeonr
Maria walked up to one of the benches
and carefully lifted a greasy newspaper.
beneath that paper, i'll Il huge dish, Law a
big fat sturgeon, amid capers, olives and
carrots. Akhineyev glanced ut the stur-
geOn and heaved sigh of relief. His
face became radiant his eyes rolled I'M
der. lie bent down, and, smacking his
bps, issued sound of a cracking wheel.
lie stood awhile, then snapped his
myers for pleasure, and smacked his
lips once more.
Bah, The sound of a hearty kiss.
Whom have you been kissing there, Mar
fusha:" someone's voice was heard from
the adjoining room, and soon the closely
cropped head of Vankin, the assistant
school Instructor, appeared in the door
way. Whom have you been kissing
here? .A-a-ah! Very good. Sergey Kapi-
ton'ch! fine old man indeed! Will
the female sex tete-a-teter
Il wasn't kissing at all' said Akhn.
eyev. confused; who told you, YOU fool?
only -smacked my lips with regards to
IN consideration of my pleasure-at the
| sight of the fish,
Tell that to someone else, not to me-
exclaimed Eankin, whose face expanded
into broad smile as ne disappeared be-
hind the door. Akhinevev blushed.
The devil knows what may come ont
| of this! he thought. Hell go about
tale bearing now, the rascal. He'll dis
| grace me before the whole town, the
| brute
Akhineycv entered the parlor timidly
| and cast furtve glances to see what
| Nankin was doing. Vankin stood near
the piano and, deftly bending down,
whispered something to the inspectors
| sister-in-law, who was laughing.
That's about mer' thought Akhineyey
! About me, the devil take him. She be-
| lieves him, she's laughing. My God. No.
that musG't be left like that. No. I'll
have to make it so that no one should
believe him. III speak to all of them,
and he'll remain foolish gossip in the
| end
Akhineyev scratched his head. and.
| still confused, walked up to Padekoi.
Il was in the kitchen little while ago.
| arranging things there for the supper"
he said to the Frenchman. You like
fish, know, and | have sturgeon of
that length. About two yards. Ha ha
ha, Yes. by the way, | have almost
forgotten There was a real mecdote
about that sturgeon in the kitchen. | en-
tered the kitchen u little while ago and
wanted to examine the food. | glanced
at the sturgeon, and, for pleasure. |
smacked my lips-it was So piquant. And
just ut that moment the fool Nunkin en-
tered and SayS-ha, hA, ha--and SAYS.
'A-a. A-a-ah. You have been kissing
here with Maria; lust think of il. with
the cook. What he invented that block
head The woman is ugly. She looks like
a monkey, and he says We were kissing.
What queer fellow
Who's 4 queer fellow" asked TIrau-
tu.ov. as he approached them.
Il refer 10 Nankin. l went out into
| the kitchen"
The story Of Maria and the sturgeon
was repeated.
That makes me laugh What queer
fellow he Is. In my opinion it is more
pleasant to kiss the dog than to kiss
Maria" added Akhineyev, and. turning
around, he noticed Mzda
we nave been speaking about Van
KIN. he said to him. What 4 queer fell
low. He entered the kitchen and noticed
me- standing beside Maria. and immedi-
ateiy he began to invent different stories.
w hatE he says, you have been kissing
each other. lie was drunk. 50 he must
nave been dreaming. And l., said |. 4
would rather kiss duck than kiss Mar
IN. AMI l have Wife said |. YOU
ioo; lie made me appear ridiculous"
w no made you appear ridicilouS?" in
Akhineyev
"Nsnkin. was standing in the kitch-
en-, You know. and looking at the Stur-
Se9n, And SO forth. In about
half an hour all the guests knew the
story about Nankin and the sturgeon.
Now let him tell thought Akhine-
yey,, rubbing his hands. Let him do it.
He'll start 70 tell them, and they'll cut
him short: Don't talk nonsense. you
fool! We know all about it"
And Akhineyev felt SO much appeased
that he drank, for joy, four glasses of
brandy over and above his bill. Having
escorted his daughter to her room. he
went 10 his own and soon slept the sleep
of an innocent child. and on the follow
ing day he no longer REMEMBERED the
story OF the sturgeon. But. alas! Man
proposes and God dispoSeS. The evil
tongue does its wicked work. and even
AkhineyeV's cunning did not do him any
good. One week later. on a Wedncsdov
after the third lesson. when Akhineyev
stood in the teachers room and discussed
) the vicious inclinationS of the pupil Wis
yekin. the director approached him. and