The Master and Margarita / Мастер и Маргарита. Книга для чтения на английском языке

“Yes, you heard correctly,” replied Berlioz courteously, “that is precisely what I was saying.”

“Ah, how interesting!” exclaimed the foreigner.

“But what the devil does he want?” thought Bezdomny, and frowned.

“And were you in agreement with your companion?” enquired the stranger, turning to the right towards Bezdomny.

“The full hundred per cent!” confirmed the latter, who loved to express himself in a mannered and ornate fashion.

'Astonishing!” exclaimed the uninvited interlocutor and, looking around furtively for some reason and lowering his deep voice, he said: “Forgive my persistence, but my understanding was that, apart from anything else, you don’t believe in God either?” He made frightened eyes and added: “I swear I won’t tell anyone.

“No, we don’t believe in God,” replied Berlioz, with a faint smile at the fright of the foreign tourist, “but it can be spoken about completely freely.

The foreigner reclined against the back of the bench and asked, even emitting a little squeal of curiosity[33 - a squeal of curiosity – возглас любопытства]:

“Are you atheists?”

“Yes, we’re atheists,” replied Berlioz, smiling, while Bezdomny thought angrily: “This foreign goose is being a real nuisance!”

“Oh, how charming!” the amazing foreigner cried, and he began twisting his head, looking first at one man of letters, then at the other.

“In our country atheism surprises no one,” said Berlioz with diplomatic politeness. “The majority of our population ceased consciously and long ago to believe in fairy tales about God.”

At this point the foreigner wheeled out the following trick: he stood up and shook the astonished editor’s hand, at the same time pronouncing these words:

“Permit me to thank you from the bottom of my heart!”

“And what is it you’re thanking him for?” enquired Bezdomny, blinking.

“For a very important piece of information, which is extremely interesting to me as a traveller,” the eccentric foreigner elucidated, raising a finger most meaningfully.

Evidently the important piece of information really had made a powerful impression on the traveller, because he looked round in alarm at the buildings, as though afraid of seeing an atheist at every window.