Page:Diamonds To Sit On.pdf/261

 THE ENGINEER BRUNS

249

Three paces. Secondly, you must stand up at once. Thirdly, I’ll sell you the furniture for two hundred and fifty roubles ; not less than two hundred and fifty.’ ‘ It is not out of avarice,’ wailed Father Theodore. ' I’ve simply come to fulfil my wife’s dying wish. She is very dangerously ill.’ ‘ Well, my wife is also ill. Isn’t it true, darling, that your lungs are weak ? But that’s no reason why you should sell your shirt, say, for thirty copecks.’ ‘ Please, take it for nothing ! ’ exclaimed Father Theodore. The engineer waved the suggestion aside and said coldly : ‘ Stop joking ! I refuse to discuss the question any further. I have valued the chairs at two hundred and fifty roubles, and I won’t be beaten down.’ ‘ Fifty roubles,’ offered Father Theodore. ‘ Call Bagration,’ said the engineer to his wife. ‘ He’ll soon escort the citizen to the gate.’ ' I’m not a miser- ’ ‘ Bagration ! ’ Father Theodore bolted in terror, and the engineer went into the house to enjoy his goose. It was his favourite dish and he began to calm down. He had just wrapped a piece of tissue paper round the end of a drumstick, and was about to gnaw it, when Father Theodore’s pathetic face appeared at the window. ‘ I’m not a miser,’ he said in a gentle voice. ‘ Fiftyfive roubles ! ’ With his back turned to the window the engineer growled and Father Theodore disappeared. All day long Father Theodore’s figure kept appearing in various parts of the garden. It would run out of the copse; a few minutes later it would come out of the orange grove, cross the back-yard, and rapidly disappear again into the garden. The engineer coniplained to his wife about the madman and about his own headache. Towards evening Father Theodore’s