.. The clouds scurry away. The
first rays of the blessed sun have peeped out ...'"
Roly-Poly made a wry smile.
"'... And now, the luminary of day has at last begun to shine anew
over the bathed earth ...'"
And the silliest of beatific smiles spread anew over the senile
face of Roly-Poly.
The cadets gave him a twenty-kopeck piece each. He laid them on
his palm, made a pass in the air with the other hand, said: ein,
zwei, drei, snapped two of his fingers, and the coins vanished.
"Tamarochka, this isn't honest," he said reproachfully. "Aren't
you ashamed to take the last money from a poor retired almost-
head-officer? Why have you hidden them here?"
And, having snapped his fingers again, he drew the coins out of
Tamara's ear.
"I shall return at once, don't be bored without me," he reassured
the young people; "but if you can't wait for me, then I won't have
any special pretensions about it. I have the honour! ..."
"Roly-Poly!" Little White Manka cried after him, "Won't you buy me
candy for fifteen kopecks... Turkish Delight, fifteen kopecks'
worth.
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