ENTRANCE TO METAL WORKSHOP

was another sign:

METAL WORKSHOP

AND PRIMUS STOVE REPAIRS

under which there hung a heavy padlock. The yard-keeper kicked the

padlock and said with loathing:

"Ugh, that stinker!"

He stood by the workshop for another two or three minutes working up

the most venomous feelings, then wrenched off the sign with a crash, took it

to the well in the middle of the yard, and standing on it with both feet,

began creating an unholy row.

"You have thieves in no. 7!" howled the yard-keeper. "Riffraff of all

kinds! That seven-sired viper! Secondary education indeed! I don't give a

damn for his secondary education! Damn stinkard!"

During this, the seven-sired viper with secondary education was sitting

behind the dustbin and feeling depressed. Window-frames flew open with a

bang, and amused tenants poked out their heads.

People strolled into the yard from outside in curiosity. At the sight

of an audience, the yard-keeper became even more heated.

"Fitter-mechanic!" he cried. "Damn aristocrat!"

The yard-keeper's parliamentary expressions were richly interspersed

with swear words, to which he gave preference. The members of the fair sex

crowding around the windows were very annoyed at the yard-keeper, but stayed

where they were.

"I'll push his face in!" he raged. "Education indeed!"

While the scene was at its height, a militiaman appeared and quietly

began hauling the fellow off to the police station. He was assisted by Some

young toughs from Fastpack. The yard-keeper put his arms around the

militiaman's neck and burst into tears. The danger was over.

A weary Victor Mikhailovich jumped out from behind the dustbin. There

was a stir among the audience.

"Bum!" cried Polesov in the wake of the procession. "I'll show you! You

louse!"

But the yard-keeper was weeping bitterly and could not hear. He was

carried to the police station, and the sign "Metal Workshop and Primus Stove

Repairs" was also taken along as factual evidence. Victor Mikhailovich

bristled with fury for some time.

"Sons of bitches!" he said, turning to the spectators. "Conceited

bums!"

"That's enough, Victor Mikhailovich," called Elena Stanislavovna from

the window. "Come in here a moment."

She placed a dish of stewed fruit in front of Polesov and, pacing up

and down the room, began asking him questions.

"But I tell you it was him-without his moustache, but definitely him,"

said Polesov, shouting as usual. "I know him well. It was the spitting image

of Vorobyaninov."

"Not so loud, for heaven's sake! Why do you think he's here?"

An ironic smile appeared on Polesov's face.

"Well, what do you think? "

He chuckled with even greater irony.

"At any rate, not to sign a treaty with the Bolsheviks."

"Do you think he's in danger? "

The reserves of irony amassed by Polesov over the ten years since the

revolution were inexhaustible. A series of smiles of varying force and

scepticism lit up his face.

"Who isn't in danger in Soviet Russia, especially a man in

Vorobyaninov's position. Moustaches, Elena Stanislavovna, are not shaved off

for nothing."

"Has he been sent from abroad?" asked Elena Stanislavovna, almost

choking.

"Definitely," replied the brilliant mechanic.

"What is his purpose here?"

"Don't be childish!"

"I must see him all the same."

"Do you know what you're risking? "

"I don't care. After ten years of separation I cannot do otherwise than

see Ippolit Matveyevich."

And it actually seemed to her that fate had parted them while they were

still in love with one another.

"I beg you to find him. Find out where he is. You go everywhere; it

won't be difficult for you. Tell him I want to see him. Do you hear?"

The parrot in the red underpants, which had been dozing on its perch,

was startled by the noisy conversation; it turned upside down and froze in

that position.

"Elena Stanislavovna," said the mechanic, half-rising and pressing his

hands to his chest, "I will contact him."

"Would you like some more stewed fruit?" asked the fortune-teller,

deeply touched.

Victor Mikhailovich consumed the stewed fruit irritably, gave Elena

Stanislavovna a lecture on the faulty construction of the parrot's cage, and

then left with instructions to keep everything strictly secret.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Date: 2015-01-02; view: 833