that is? And even then we should lose if we were to sell the stuff now, for you must know that — ”

It was clear that he would have had many other arguments to adduce had not Papa interrupted him.

“I cannot make any change in my arrangements,” said Papa. “Yet if there should REALLY have to be any delay in the recovery of these sums, we could borrow what we wanted from the Chabarovska funds.”

“Very well, sir.” The expression of Jakoff’s face and the way in which he twitched his fingers showed that this order had given him great satisfaction.

He was a serf, and a most zealous, devoted one, but, like all good bailiffs, exacting and parsimonious to a degree in the