"I've been waiting for you, Barin," he said in his hoarse musical voice.
"What is it?" I asked.
"This is where I live," he said, and he showed me a very dirty piece of
paper. "I think you ought to know."
"Why?" I asked him.
"_Kto snaiet_? (who knows?) The Czar's gone and we are all free men...."
I felt oddly that suddenly now he knew himself my master. That was now
in his voice.
"What are you going to do with your freedom?" I asked.
He sighed.
"I shall have my duties now," he said. "I'm not a free man at all. I
obey orders for the first time. The people are going to rule. I am the
people."
He paused. Then he went on very seriously. "That is why, Barin, I give
you that paper. I have friendly feelings towards you. I don't know what
it is, but I am your brother. They may come and want to rob your house.
Show them that paper."
"Thank you very much," I said. "But I'm not afraid. There's nothing I
mind them stealing. All the same I'm very grateful."
He went on very seriously.
"There'll be no Czar now and no police. We will stop the war and all be
rich." He sighed. "But I don't know that it will bring happiness.
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