THE MUSE OF DISTANT JOURNEYS
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not eat in the middle of the night, but a passenger always does. He eats a roast chicken which at other times he cannot afford. He eats hard-boiled eggs that are indigestible and bad for him. When the tram bumps, numerous kettles clatter about on the floor, and parcels get lost. But the passengers do not bother about this. They exchange anecdotes, and regularly every three minutes the whole carriage roars with laughter. A moment’s silence and then somebody else begins another tale, and then again laughter. The Muse of Distant Journeys lures a man. She has already made Father Theodore forsake his Quiet home, and now the former member of the nobility, Hippolyte Matveyevich Vorobianinov, has been moved by her call and has made heaven knows what kind of plans. The day after the funeral, which was conducted by the undertaker Bezenchuk, Hippolyte went to work as usual and, fulfilling his duty, registered the death of his own mother-in-law. ' Clavdia Ivanovna Petu khov, aged fifty-nine, householder, non-party, domi ciled in the provincial town N----- , originating from the town of Stargorod.’ After this he asked for a fortnight’s leave, received forty-one roubles, and after saying good-bye to his colleagues went home. On his way he dropped in to see the chemist. The chemist, Leopold, was standing behind the counter surrounded by little bottles of poison, and was busy selling some Crfime Angot to a relation of the captain of the fire brigade. As a matter of fact, she was asking him for Poudre Rachel, but as he had not any of this powder in stock he was trying to get rid of some Creme Angot. He succeeded in the end, but it took him half an hour to persuade the lady. At last he turned to Hippolyte. ‘ What can I do for you ? ’ ‘ I want something for my hair.’ ‘ To make it grow ? To remove hair or to dye it ? ’
