"
"You are becoming impertinent! Do you want me to ring for the footman?"
"Pray do not give yourself the trouble! If you are determined to take
the documents away from me by force I will fling them into the fire that
is burning there on the hearth before the footman can come in and there
will be an end to them."
"Then it is money you want, eh? How much?"
This question made Margari still more bumptious.
"How much do I want? A good deal, a very good deal, I can tell you. In
fact I cannot tell at present how much."
But then he suddenly reassumed his obsequious cringing mien and added:
"I tell you what, your honour, procure me some petty office at Count
Hatszegi's. I don't care what it is, so long as I get a life-long
sinecure--suppose we say his bailiff, or his librarian, or his
secretary? A single word from your honour would do it."
An idea suddenly occurred to Mr. Demetrius.
"Very good, Margari, very good. So it shall be. I give you my word upon
it--you shall be Hatszegi's secretary."
"But it must be life-long. I humbly beg of you, it must be till the term
not of his but of my natural life."
"Yes, yes, till the term of your natural life."
"But if he won't have it?"
"I'll pay you myself. You shall receive your regular salary from me
without including whatever you may get over and above from him. Will you
be satisfied with a yearly salary of three hundred florins with your
board and keep?"
At these words Margari's breath failed him.
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