When he sees him first Aliokhin was standing at the threshold. He was about 40, tall and stout. He had long hair. He looked more like a professor or a painter than a farmer. He was wearing a grimy white short and rope belt, and pants instead of trousers. His boots were covered with mud and straw. His nose and eyes were black with dust. Nicholai was 2 years younger to his brother Ivan. Nicholai was at the Exchequer Court when he was 19. He was not happy at the Exchequer. For years he was sitting in the same place, writing the same documents. He was thinking of only one thing – how to get back to the country and buy a small farm near the bank of a river or lake.
