The merchant from Suzdal strolled down Teatralny proezd, tapping his cane on the sidewalk in time with a hummed tune. Idly, he noted a string of posters pasted one after the other on the lantern-poles lining the street: LOST Diamond Necklace with Gold Leaf Clasp in the vicinity of Red Square 5000 SILVER RUBLES REWARD!!! Apply to A. Kozlenok, Hotel New Metropol Five thousand rubles was good money for whatever lucky soul found the bauble and was honest enough to return it—more, indeed, than the merchant normally earned in a month. However, this business trip had been an exceptionally profitable one; he had sold all the house-gourd seeds he had brought at a considerable markup—word had not yet reached Moscow of the fast-spreading blight that would attack and kill the gourds before they reached bungalow size—and so he could contemplate the necklace without suffering too greatly the pangs of avarice. Nevertheless, he could not refrain from peering into the gutters in the furtive hope of seeing a diamondy glitter.
