"Come, come, my dear friend! compose yourself. I did not mean to hurt
you. You are not angry, are you. I hope you are not hurt? Where did you
hit yourself?"
Margari, however, began whimpering like a schoolboy, the more the other
tried to quiet him, the more loudly he bellowed.
"Come, come! don't make such a noise! Come under the verandah and wipe
the blood from your face!"
"But I am not a dog!" roared Margari. "I won't go under the verandah,
I'll go into the street. I'll howl at the top of my voice. The whole
town shall see me bleed."
"Margari, don't be a fool! I didn't mean to hurt you. I was too violent,
I admit it. Look here! I'll give you money. How much do you want? Will
200 florins be enough?"
At the words "200 florins," Margari stopped roaring a bit, but he wanted
to see the colour of the money, for he thought to himself that if he
quieted down first he would get nothing at all. So he kept on whining
and limped first on one leg and then on the other and plastered his
whole face over with blood from the one little scratch he had got.
Mr. John hastened to wipe Margari's face with his own
pocket handkerchief.
"Come, come my dear Margari. I have told you I did not mean to do it.
Here are the two hundred florins I promised you. But now leave me alone.
Go abroad with the money and enjoy yourself and I will give you some
more later on.
Pages:
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307