The German’s eyes opened wide in astonishment, and his mouth also, so that the cigar fell to the ground. He made an exclamation, bent down, picked up the cigar, put it in his mouth again, and then said:
“Send? The elephant? To your house? I don’t understand you.”
It was evident from his look that he also wanted to ask Nadya’s father if he were a little wrong in the head.... But the father quickly began to explain the matter: his only daughter, Nadya, was ill with a strange malady which no doctor could understand nor cure. She had lain for a month in her bed, had grown thinner and weaker every day, wasn’t interested in anything, was only dull—she seemed to be slowly dying. The doctors had said she must be roused, but she didn’t care for anything; they had said that all her desires were to be gratified, but she didn’t wish for anything at all. To-day she had said she wanted to see a live elephant. Wasn’t it possible to manage that she should?
And he took the German by the button of his coat, and added in a trembling voice:
“Well ... of course I hope that my little girl will get well again. But suppose ... God forbid it!... her illness should take a sudden turn for the worse ... and she should die! Just think—shouldn’t I be tortured for all the rest of my life to think that I hadn’t fulfilled her last, her very last wish!”
The German wrinkled up his forehead and thoughtfully scratched his left eyebrow with his little finger. At length he asked:
“H’m.... And how old is your little girl?”
“Six.”
“H’m.... My Lisa’s six, too. H’m. But you know, it’ll cost you a lot. We’ll have to take the elephant one night, and we can’t bring it back till the next night. It’ll be impossible to do it in the day-time. There’d be such crowds of people, and such a fuss.... It means that I should lose a whole day, and you ought to pay me for it.”
“Of course, of course ... don’t be anxious about that.”