Page:Diamonds To Sit On.pdf/91

 A PASSIONATE WOMAN—A POET’S DREAM 79 ‘ I want to sell you a pair of old trousers.’ The priest shuddered and turned away. ‘ Well ? Haven’t you anything to say for yourself ? ’ Father Theodore walked towards his room. ‘ We buy old things,’ Bender called out after him, ' and we steal new ones ! ’ The priest stopped outside his door and Bender went on taunting him : ‘ What about those breeches ? D’you want them ? I’ve got the sleeves of a waist­ coat, the ring of a cracknel, and the ears of a dead donkey. You can have the whole lot cheap. And they’re not inside a chair, so you won’t need to look for them.’ Father Theodore banged his door behind him. Bender was quite pleased with himself, and turned round to go into his bedroom, when Father Theodore poked his head out of his room and shouted : ‘ You’re a fool! ’ ‘ What ? ’ shouted Bender as he dashed back. But the priest slammed the door and locked it. ‘ What price opium for the people ? ’ Bender bellowed through the keyhole. There was no answer. ‘ You’re a bounder, holy father ! ’ shouted Bender. A sharply-pointed pencil was pushed through the keyhole and Father Theodore tried to wound his enemy. Bender recoiled in time, seized the end of the pencil, and the two enemies silently tugged at it. Youth triumphed and the pencil slowly emerged from the keyhole. Bender returned to his room with the trophy, and Hippolyte and he were hilarious. Bender took his pen-knife, opened it, cut an insulting word on the side of the pencil, ran out into the corridor, pushed the pencil through the keyhole, and came back to his room. The friends began to examine the confiscation orders. ‘ The order for the “ Shepherdess ” Gobelin,’ said Hippolyte meditatively. ‘ I bought that Gobelin from an antique-dealer in Petersburg.’