Once there, the first thing the bookkeeper did was drop his briefcase. Everything in his head went topsy-turvy. And, it must be said, with good reason.

The sign on the door says that I'm not seeing anyone! "

The beautiful secretary let out a shriek, wrung her hands, and screamed, " See? Do you see?! He isn't there! He's not! Bring him back, bring him back! "

Just then someone poked his head in the door, groaned, and then left. The bookkeeper felt his legs start to tremble and sat down on the edge of a chair, but he didn't forget to pick up his briefcase. Anna Richardovna kept jumping around him, grabbing at his suit, and yelling, " I always tried to stop him when he used devil oaths! And now he's bedeviled himself! " At this point she ran over to the desk and in a soft musical voice that was slightly nasal-sounding from so much crying, she exclaimed, " Prosha! Where are you? "

" Who are you calling 'Prosha? " the suit asked haughtily, sinking deeper in the chair.

" He doesn't recognize me! He doesn't! Don't you see? " sobbed the secretary.

" Please don't sob in the office! " said the irascible striped suit, already angry, extending its sleeve for a fresh stack of papers, obviously intending to attach memos to them.

" No, I can't look at this, no, I can't! " cried Anna Richardovna and ran out into the anteroom, followed like a shot by the bookkeeper.

" Just imagine, I was sitting here, " began Anna Richardovna, trembling with agitation, and once again grabbing the bookkeeper by his sleeve, " and in walks a cat. Black, big as a hippopotamus. I, naturally, screamed 'Scat! ' He takes off, and a fat man with a kind of catlike mug comes in instead. He says to me, 'Are you the one who screams " Scat" to visitors? ' And he goes right in to Prokhor Petrovich. Naturally, I follow him and yell, 'Have you gone crazy? ' But the brazen fellow goes right up to Prokhor Petrovich and sits down in the chair opposite! Well, Prokhor Petrovich, he's the nicest man you'll ever meet, but he's high-strung. He just blew up. I don't deny it. He's irritable, works like a horse—and he blew up. 'How dare you, ' he says, 'burst in unannounced? ' And, just imagine, that smart aleck sank back in his chair and said, smiling, 'But I've come, ' he says, 'on a little matter of business.' Prokhor Petrovich blew up again, I'm busy! ' And the other one, can you believe it, says back, 'You're not busy with anything at all...' How do you like that? Well, naturally, at that point Prokhor Petrovich's patience ran out, and he shouted, 'What the hell is this? Get him out of here, the devil take me! ' And then, just imagine, the other one flashes a grin and says, 'You want the devil to take you? That can be arranged! ' And, bang, before I can let out a scream, I see that the guy with the catlike mug is gone, and sit... sitting there is the suit... Oooh! " howled Anna Richardovna, her mouth stretched so wide that it lost its shape.

She choked back her sobs and took a deep breath, but then she said something completely nonsensical, " And it writes, writes, writes! Drives