The Man Who Was Afraid. Максим Горький

      “Vodka, too.”

      “Ah! So. Isn’t it rather too soon?”

      “Ask Yefim whether I ever drank enough to be intoxicated.”

      “Why should I ask Yefim? You must tell me everything yourself. So you are drinking? I don’t like it.”

      “But I can get along without drinking.”

      “Come, come! Do you want some cognac?”

      Foma looked at his father and smiled broadly. And his father answered him with a kindly smile:

      “Eh, you. Devil! Drink, but look out – know your business. What can you do? A drunkard will sleep himself sober, a fool – never. Let us understand this much at least, for our own consolation. And did you have a good time with girls, too? Be frank! Are you afraid that I will beat you, or what?”

      “Yes. There was one on the steamer. I had her there from Perm to Kazan.”

      “So,” Ignat sighed heavily and said, frowning: “You’ve become defiled rather too soon.”