Page:Diamonds To Sit On.pdf/41

 the great schemer

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‘ Did you get one ? ’ asked Bender. ‘You wait; said the other. ‘ He used to say: He “ T’vp no use for a porter without a medal. — went --to Srsbarg for the medal, but nothing happened SroseTentlelen in the Civil Service wouldn t hear o it “ The Tsar has gone abroad, they said, audits quite impossible at present.” So my.m^ter toU me to wait. ‘‘You wait,” says he. lU see you get a

“^‘^at happened to your master ?

Was he shot ? ’

onTslS him. He went oh on his own. What was there for him to do here? Sit round with the soldiers ? And they don t give medals out course they do,’ said Bender, ‘ I can see to that The porter looked at Bender with admiration. ' Yes.’ he said, ‘ I ought to have a medal. It s no joke being without a medal.’ ‘ Where did your master go to ? ., ‘ Goodness knows. Some said he went to Pans. ‘Oh! So he ran off abroad, eh ? ’ ' Abroad yourself. He went to Paris and they took his house for the old women. You can go and say : “ Many happy returns ” to them as long as you hke, but you won’t get anything for it. Eh 1 he was a good master, he was.’ At that moment a rusty bell was pulled at the door. The porter grumbled, shuffled off, opened the door, and started back. To his amazement there stood on the top step Hippolyte Matveyevich Vorobianinov with a black moustache, black hair, and his eyes shining behind a pair of pince-nez as they used to shine before the War. . ‘ Master 1 ’ shouted the porter excitedly, rrom Paris I ’ Hippolyte was confused by the presence of a stranger.