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DIAMONDS TO SIT ON

The Shepherdess ” can go to the devil I ’ shouted Bender as he tore the order to ribbons. ‘ The round table.’ ' Let me have that round table. That too can go to the devil! ’ There were two orders left. One was for ten chairs and the other for a chair given out to Comrade Gritsatsuev in Stargorod. ‘ Get your money ready,’ said Bender. ‘ You may have to go to Moscow.’ ‘ But there’s a chair here,’ said Hippolyte. ‘ That’s one chance against ten, isn’t it ? ’ said Bender. ‘ And it’s quite possible that Comrade Grit­ satsuev has had it broken up for firewood long ago.’ ‘ I think your joke is out of place,’ said Hippolyte. ‘ Never mind, dear Konrad Karlovich Michaelson, we’ll find those diamonds and we’ll wear silk shirts before we’re very much older, and eat caviare too ! ’ ‘ I can’t say why,’ said Hippolyte, ‘ but for some reason or other I feel absolutely convinced that the diamonds are in that very chair.’ ‘ Oh ! you feel that, do you ? Do you feel anything else ? Nothing ? AU right, we’U work in the Marxist way ; we’U leave the sky to the birds and turn to the chairs. I’m longing to meet the disabled soldier of the Imperialist War, Comrade Gritsatsuev of Number 15 Plekhanov Street. Hurry up, Konrad Karlovich, we’U form our plan on our way there.’ As they passed Father Theodore’s room. Bender could not resist kicking the door. ‘ I hope he won’t foUow us,’ said Hippolyte nervously. ' After to-day’s interview between the ministers no further negotiations are possible. He’s afraid of me,’ said Bender. The friends returned in the evening. Hippolyte was worried, but Bender was radiant. The latter was wearing new boots, with bright yeUow suede tops