Mikhail Bulgakov. The Master and Margarita -
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the devout and spinsteriy Anfisa used to carry twenty-five large diamonds,
belonging to Anna Frantzevna, in a chamois-leather bag between her withered
breasts. It was said, too, that among other things a priceless treasure
consisting of those same diamonds and a hoard of tsarist gold coins were
somehow found in the coal-she'd behind Anna Frantzevna's dacha. Lacking
proof, of course, we shall never know how true these rumours were. However,
the flat only remained empty for a week before Berlioz and his wife and
Stepa and his wife moved into it. Naturally as soon as they took possession
of the haunted flat the oddest things started happening to them too. Within
a single month both wives had disappeared, although not without trace.
Rumour had it that Berlioz's wife had been seen in Kharkov with a
ballet-master, whilst Stepa's wife had apparently found her way to an
orphanage where, the story went, the manager of the Variety had used his
connections to get her a room on condition that she never showed her face in
Sadovaya Street again. . . .
So Stepa groaned. He wanted to call his maid, Grunya, and ask her for
an aspirin but he was conscious enough to realise that it would be useless
because Grunya most probably had no aspirin. He tried to call for Berlioz's
help and twice moaned ' Misha . . . Misha . . .', but as you will have
guessed, there was no reply. There was complete silence in the flat.
Wriggling his toes, Stepa deduced that he was lying in his socks. He
ran a trembling hand down his hip to test whether he had his trousers on or
not and found that he had not. At last, realising that he was alone and
abandoned, that there was nobody to help him, he decided to get up, whatever
superhuman effort it might cost him.
Stepa prised open his eyelids and saw himself reflected in the long