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The beggar replied that his name was Lushkoff.

“Well, Lushkoff, I can now offer you some other, cleaner employment.

Can you write?‟”

Sergei wanted to offer him better work and asked if he could write.

“I can.”

Lushkoff replied that yes he could write too.

“Then take this letter to a friend of mine tomorrow and you will be given

some copying to do. Work hard, don‟t drink, and remember what I have

said to you. Goodbye!”

Sergei handed him a letter to be delivered to a friend of his. Sergei’s

friend would give copying work to Lushkoff. He instructed him to work

hard. They parted.

Pleased at having put a man on the right path, Sergei tapped Lushkoff

kindly on the shoulder and even gave him his hand at parting. Lushkoff

took the letter, and from that day forth came

no more to the yard for work.

Sergei was happy that he had reformed a man. He tapped Lushkoff on

his shoulder and shook hands with him. Lushkoff went away with the

letter and never returned.

Two years went by. Then one evening, as Sergei was standing at the

ticket window of a theatre paying for his seat, he noticed a little man

beside him with a coat collar of curly fur and a worn sealskin cap. This

little individual timidly asked the ticket seller for a seat in the gallery and

paid for it in copper coins.

Timidly: in a shy or nervous way