[6] The Russian expression is “the red flag.”—TRANS.
“Drop it, Niura; it’s boring,” said Platonov with a wry face.
“Can it!” (leave off) ordered Tamara severely, in the jargon of houses of prostitution.
But it was impossible to stop Niura, who had gotten a running start.
“But Ninka says: ‘I,’ she says, ‘won’t stay with him for anything, though you cut me all to pieces ... He,’ she says, ‘has made me all wet with his spit.’ Well, the old man complained to the porter, to be sure, and the porter starts in to beat up Ninka, to be sure. And Sergei Ivanich at this time was writing for me a letter home, to the province, and when he heard that Ninka was hollering...”
“Zoe, shut her mouth!” said Platonov.
“He just jumped up at once and ... app! ...” and Niura’s torrent instantly broke off, stopped up by Zoe’s palm.
Everybody burst out laughing, only Boris Sobashnikov muttered under cover of the noise with a contemptuous look:
“OH, CHEVALIER SANS PEUR ET SANS REPROCHE!”
He was already pretty far gone in drink, stood leaning against the wall, in a provoking pose, and was nervously chewing a cigarette.