Day was added to day, week to week, and the circle of a year went by.
Mikháyla was living as before with Semén, and working. And the report
spread about Semén's workman that nobody sewed a boot so neatly and so
strongly as he. And people from all the surrounding country began to
come to Semén for boots, and Semén's income began to grow.
One time, in the winter, Semén was sitting with Mikháyla and working,
when a tróyka with bells stopped at the door. They looked through the
window: the carriage had stopped opposite the hut, and a fine lad jumped
down from the box and opened the carriage door. Out of the carriage
stepped a gentleman in a fur coat. He came out of the carriage, walked
toward Semén's house, and went on the porch. Up jumped Matréna and
opened the door wide. The gentleman bent his head and entered the hut;
he straightened himself up, almost struck the ceiling with his head, and
took up a whole corner.
Semén got up, bowed to the gentleman, and wondered what he wanted. He
had not seen such men. Semén himself was spare-ribbed, and Mikháyla was
lean, and Matréna was as dry as a chip, while this one was like a man
from another world: his face was red and blood-filled, his neck like a
bull's, and altogether he looked as though cast in iron.
The gentleman puffed, took off his fur coat, seated himself on a bench,
and said:
"Who is the master shoemaker?"
Semén stepped forward, and said:
"I, your Excellency."
The gentleman shouted to his lad:
"Oh, Fédka, let me have the material!"
The lad came running in and brought a bundle. The gentleman took it and
put it on the table.
"Open it!" he said.
The lad opened it. The gentleman pointed to the material, and said to
Semén:
"Listen now, shoemaker! Do you see the material?"
"I do," he said, "your Honour."
"Do you understand what kind of material this is?"
Semén felt of it, and said:
"It is good material."
"I should say it is! You, fool, have never seen such before. It is
German material: it costs twenty roubles."
Semén was frightened, and he said:
"How could we have seen such?"
"That's it. Can you make me boots to fit my feet from this material?"
"I can, your Honour."
The gentleman shouted at him:
"That's it: you can. You must understand for whom you are working, and
what material you have to work on. Make me a pair of boots that will
wear a year without running down or ripping. If you can, undertake it
and cut the material; if you cannot, do not undertake it and do not cut
the material. I tell you in advance: if the boots wear off or rip before
the year is over, I will put you into jail; if they do not wear off or
rip for a year, I will give you ten roubles for the work."
Semén was frightened and did not know what to say. He looked at
Mikháyla. He nudged him with his elbow, and said:
"Friend, what do you say?"