6/22 It is probably a friend who wants a hundred-ruble note until next Monday." The cathedral clock struck six as Karl Steinmetz turned out of the Nevski Prospekt into the large square before the sacred edifice. He soon found the Kazan Passage--a very nest of toyshops--and, following the directions given, he mounted a narrow staircase. He knocked at the door on the left hand at the top of the stairs. The room was a small one, brilliantly lighted by a paraffin lamp. At the table sat an old man with broad benevolent face, high forehead, thin hair, and that smile which savors of the milk of human kindness, and in England suggests Nonconformity. |