The Master and Margarita. Way for a minute or so without moving.

Way for a minute or so without moving.

" But where are the guests? " Margarita asked Korovyov.

" They'll be here, Your Majesty, they'll be here any minute. There'll be no lack of them. And, to be honest, I'd rather be chopping wood than standing here on this landing to receive them."

" Chopping wood is nothing, " interjected the garrulous cat " I'd rather be a streetcar conductor, and there's no job in the world worse than that."

" Everything has to be ready in advance, Your Majesty, " explained Korovyov, his eye gleaming through the cracked monocle. " There's nothing worse than having the first guest roam around without knowing what to do while his lawful shrew of a wife scolds him in a whisper for their being the first to arrive. Balls like that should be done away with entirely, Your Majesty."

" Done away with entirely, " affirmed the cat.

" Not more than ten seconds till midnight, " added Korovyov. " It's about to start."

Those ten seconds seemed extraordinarily long to Margarita. They appeared to have passed already, yet absolutely nothing had happened. Then, suddenly, there was a loud crash in the enormous fireplace at the bottom of the stairs, and out popped a gallows with a dangling corpse half turned to dust. This dust shook itself off the noose, fell to the ground, and out jumped a handsome black-haired fellow in tails and patent-leather shoes. Out of the fireplace slid a small, semi-rotted coffin, its top flew off, and another clump of dust tumbled out of the coffin. The handsome fellow rushed gallantly over to it and extended a bent arm, the second clump of dust formed itself into a fidgety, naked woman in black evening slippers, with black feathers on her head, and then both the man and the woman began hurrying up the staircase.

" The first guests! " exclaimed Korovyov. " Monsieur Jacques and his wife. May I introduce you, Your Majesty, to a most interesting man! An inveterate counterfeiter and traitor to his country, but a very good alchemist. He won fame, " whispered Korovyov in Margarita's ear, " for poisoning the king's mistress. And that's not something that happens to everyone! Look how handsome he is! "

A distinctly pale Margarita, her mouth agape, looked downwards and saw the coffin and gallows disappear through a side door in the foyer.

" Delighted to see you! " howled the cat, right in Monsieur Jacques's face, as he reached the top of the stairs.