“Our friend, Victor Sergejevitsch Sarudine has done us the honour of asking us to represent him in a certain matter which concerns you and himself.” The sentence was delivered with automatic precision.
“Oho!” said Sanine with comic gravity, as he opened his mouth wide.
“Yes, sir,” continued Tanaroff, frowning slightly. “He considers that your behaviour towards him was not—er—quite …”
“Yes, yes, I understand,” interrupted Sanine, losing patience.
“I very nearly kicked him out of the house, so that ‘not—er—quite’ is hardly the right way of putting it.”
The speech was lost upon Tanaroff, who went on:
“Well, sir, he insists on your taking back your words.”
“Yes, yes,” chimed in the lanky Von Deitz, who kept shifting the position of his feet, like a stork.
Sanine smiled.
“Take them back? How can I do that? ‘As uncaged bird is spoken word!’”