Today is another piece of great Russian stories. This time it is The Thief by Fyodor Dostoevsky, one of the most mysterious and most-read authors in Russia and abroad, worldly acclaimed for his Crime and Punishment ( Prestupleniye I Nakazaniye ) with a deep insight into the human nature and intricate paths to religious consciousness.
      
      
       One morning, just as I was about to leave for my place of employment, Agrafena (my cook, laundress, and housekeeper all in one person) entered my room, and, to my great astonishment, started a conversation.
      
She was a quiet, simple-minded woman, who during the whole six years of her stay with me had never spoken more than two or three words daily, and that in reference to my dinner -- at least, I had never heard her.

       "I have come to you, sir," she suddenly began, "about the renting out of the little spare room."

       "What spare room?"

       "The one that is near the kitchen, of course; which should it be?"

       "Why?"

       "Why do people generally take lodgers? Because."

       "But who will take it?"

       "Who will take it! A lodger, of course! Who should take it?"

       "But there is hardly room in there, mother mine, for a bed; it will be too cramped. How can one live in it?"

       "But why live in it! He only wants a place to sleep in; he will live on the window-seat."

       "What window-seat?"

       "How is that? What window-seat? As if you did not know! The one in the hall. He will sit on it and sew, or do something else. But maybe he will sit on a chair; he has a chair of his own -- and a table also, and everything."

       "But who is he?"

       "A nice, worldly-wise man. I will cook for him and will charge him only three rubles in silver a month for room and board -----"
      
      
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