Geographical
maps to her were always an incomprehensible daubing in several
colours; but separate figures she memorized exactly and quickly.
"Where's Italy?" Lichonin would ask her. "Here it is, a boot,"
Liubka would say and triumphantly jabbed the Apennine Peninsula.
"Sweden and Norway?" "This dog, which is jumping off a roof." "The
Baltic Sea?" "A widow standing on her knees." "The Black Sea?" "A
shoe." "Spain?" "A fatty in a cap" ... &c. With history matters
went no better; Lichonin did not take into consideration the fact
that she, with her childlike soul thirsting for fiction, would
have easily become familiarized with historic events through
various funny and heroically touching anecdotes; but he,
accustomed to pulling through examinations and tutoring high-
school boys of the fourth or fifth grade, starved her on names and
dates. Besides that, he was very impatient, unrestrained,
irascible; grew fatigued soon, and a secret--usually concealed but
constantly growing--hatred for the girl who had so suddenly and
incongruously warped all his life, more and more frequently and
unjustly broke forth during the time of these lessons.
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