The Twelve Chairs / Двенадцать стульев. Книга для чтения на английском языке

The Mirror-of-Life Index

The next day the partners saw that it was no longer convenient to live in the caretaker's room. Tikhon kept muttering away to himself and had become completely stupid, having seen his master first with a black moustache, then with a green one, and finally with no moustache at all. There was nothing to sleep on. The room stank of rotting manure, brought in on Tikhon's new felt boots. His old ones stood in the corner and did not help to purify the air, either.

В«I declare the old boys' reunion overВ», said Ostap.

В«We must move to a hotelВ».

Ippolit Matveyevich trembled. В«I can'tВ».

В«Why not?В»

В«I shall have to registerВ».

В«Aren't your papers in order?В»

В«My papers are in order, but my name is well known in the town. Rumours will spreadВ».

The concessionaires reflected for, a while in silence.

В«How do you like the name Michelson?В» suddenly asked the splendid Ostap.

В«Which Michelson? The Senator?В»

В«No. The member of the shop assistants' trade unionВ».

В«I don't get youВ».

В«That's because you lack technical experience. Don't be naive!В»

Bender took a union card out of his green jacket and handed it to Ippolit Matveyevich.

«Konrad Karlovich Michelson, aged forty-eight, non-party member, bachelor; union member since 1921 and a person of excellent character; a good friend of mine and seems to be a friend of children… But you needn't be friendly to children. The militia doesn't require that of you».

Ippolit Matveyevich turned red.

В«But is it right?В»

«„Compared with our“ concession, this misdeed, though it does come under the penal code, is as innocent as a children's game».

Vorobyaninov nevertheless balked at the idea.

В«You're an idealist, Konrad Karlovich. You're lucky, otherwise you might have to become a Papa Christosopulo or ZlovunovВ».

There followed immediate consent, and without saying goodbye to Tikhon, the concessionaires went out into the street.

They stopped at the Sorbonne Furnished Rooms.

Ostap threw the whole of the small hotel staff into confusion. First he looked at the seven-rouble rooms, but disliked the furnishings. The cleanliness of the five-rouble rooms pleased him more, but the carpets were shabby and there was an objectionable smell. In the three-rouble rooms everything was satisfactory except for the pictures.

В«I can't live in a room with landscapesВ», said Ostap.

They had to take a room for one rouble, eighty.