Kerbesh slowly draws in half a wine-glass of liqueur, works the oily, strong, pungent liquid slightly with his tongue over the roof of his mouth, swallows it, chases it down, without hurrying, with coffee, and then passes the ring finger of his left hand over his moustaches, to the right and left.
“Think it over for yourself, Madam Shoibes,” he says, looking down at the table, spreading out his hands and screwing up his eyes. “Think of the risk to which I’m exposed! The girl through means of deception was enticed into this... what-you-may-call-it... well, in a word, into a house of ill-fame, to express it in lofty style. Now the parents are searching for her through the police. Ve-ery well. She gets into one place after another, from the fifth into the tenth... Finally the trail is picked up with you, and most important of all—think of it!—in my district! What can I do?”
“Mr. Kerbesh, but she is of age,” says the proprietress.
“They are of age,” confirms Isaiah Savvich. “They gave an acknowledgment, that it was of their own will...”
Emma Edwardovna pronounces in a bass, with cool assurance:
“Honest to God, she’s the same here as an own daughter.”
“But that’s not what I am talking about,” the inspector frowns in vexation. “Just consider my position... Why, this is duty. Lord, there’s no end of unpleasantnesses without that!”
The proprietress suddenly arises, shuffles in her slippers to the door, and says, winking to the inspector with a sleepy, expressionless eye of faded blue:
“Mr. Kerbesh, I would ask you to have a look at our alterations. We want to enlarge the place a bit.”
“A-ah! With pleasure...”