Then he went away, and I was left alone with the check and Prilukoff's sealed envelope.
I had wanted five thousand rubles and here I was with twenty thousand before me!
Poor, good Kamarowsky! And poor, dear, kind Prilukoff!
“I do not see why I should really return this to Prilukoff!” I said to myself.
I broke the seals and opened the envelope that he had presented to me with so much solemnity. Petrified with astonishment I gazed at its contents. Then I laughed softly.
“On the whole, I think I will return it,” I said, and laid the envelope aside.
It was full of old newspaper cuttings!
XXV
Facilis descensus Averni.