“Well, let’s talk frankly; five hundred. I don’t want to buy a cat in a bag.”
“It seems, Madam Barsukova, that it isn’t the first time you and I have done business together, I won’t deceive you and will bring her here right away. Only I beg you not to forget that you’re my aunt, and please work in that direction. I won’t be more than three days here in the city.”
Madam Barsukova, with all her breasts, bellies and chins, began to sway merrily.
“We won’t dicker over trifles. All the more so since you don’t deceive me, nor I you. There’s a great demand for women now. What would you say, Mister Horizon, if I offered you some red wine?”
“Thank you, Madam Barsukova, with pleasure.”
“Let’s talk a while like old friends. Tell me, how much do you make a year?”
“Ach, madam, what shall I say? Twelve, twenty thousand, approximately. But think what tremendous expenses there are in constantly travelling.”
“Do you put away a little?”
“Well, that’s trifles; some two or three thousand a year.”
“I thought ten, twenty ...”