S. “Bosja moia! No; I can’t think of fifty—say sixty.”
L. “Not a copeck more than fifty.”
S. “By Heaven! I can’t sell it for that price; you shall have it for fifty-five.”
L. “Will you take fifty or not?”
S. “I can’t indeed.” (He shuts up the box and puts it back into its place.) “You shall have it for fifty-three.”
The purchaser refuses to be cheated of even three copecks an arsheen, and walks out of the shop; she has perhaps gone half-a-dozen yards, when the shopkeeper’s voice is heard calling out, “Barishna, Barishna! come back, if you please!”
L. “Not a copeck more than fifty.”
S. (Having persuaded her to re-enter the warehouse, says in a confidential manner) “You shall have it for fifty-one.”
L. “I said fifty, and I will give you no more.”