she was laid up for a week; and she was pregnant at the time. Iván was delighted. He went to the magistrate to lodge a complaint. “Now I’ll get rid of my neighbour! He won’t escape imprisonment, or exile to Siberia.” But Iván’s wish was not fulfilled. The magistrate dismissed the case. The woman was examined, but she was up and about and showed no sign of any injury. Then Iván went to the Justice of the Peace, but he referred the business to the District Court. Iván bestirred himself: treated the clerk and the Elder of the District Court to a gallon of liquor and got Gabriel condemned to be flogged. The sentence was read out to Gabriel by the clerk: “The Court decrees that the peasant Gabriel Gordéyef shall receive twenty lashes with a birch rod at the District Court.”
Iván too heard the sentence read, and looked at Gabriel to see how he would take it. Gabriel grew as pale as a sheet, and turned round and went out into the passage. Iván followed him, meaning to see to the horse, and he overheard Gabriel say, “Very well! He will have my back flogged: that will make it burn; but something of his may burn worse than that!”