A Russian Proprietor: And Other Stories (1888) by Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy,Nathan Haskell Dole details from sapnaonline

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. Excerpt from book: Section 3RECOLLECTIONS OF A SCORER. textit{A STORY. Well, it happened about three o'clock. The gentlemen were playing. There was the big stranger, as our men called him. The prince was there, ? the two are always together. The whiskered bdrin was there; also the little hussar, Oliver, who was au actor, and there was the textit{pan.1 It was a pretty good crowd. The big stranger and the prince were playing together. Now, here I was walking up and down around the billiard-table with my stick, keeping tally, ? ten and forty-seven, twelve and forty-seven. Everybody knows it's our business to score. You don't get a chance to get a bite of any thing, and you don't get to bed till two o'clock o' nights, but you're always being screamed at to bring the balls. I was keeping tally; and I look, and see a new bdrin comes in at the door. He gazed and gazed, and then sat down on the sofa. Very well "Now, who can that be?" thinks I to myself. "He must be somebody." His dress was neat, ? neat as a pin, ? checkered tricot pants, stylish little short coat, plush vest, and gold chain and all sorts of trinkets dangling from it. 1 Polish name for lord or gentleman. . 123 He was dressed neat; but there was something about the man neater still; slim, tall, his hair brushed forward in style, and his face fair and ruddy, ? well, in a word, a fine young fellow. You must know our business brings us into contact with all sorts of people. And there's many that ain't of much consequence, and there's a good deal of poor trash. So, though you're only a scorer, you get used to telling folks; that is, in a certain way you learn a thing or two. I looked at the bdrin. I see him sit down, modest and quiet, not knowing anybody; and the clothes on him are so bran-new, that thinks I, " Either he's a foreigner, ? an En...