HUSBAND AND WIFE
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a pale blue waistcoat was coming towards her. It was obvious from the expression on his face that his visit to the newspaper office at such a late hour was most important, but he certainly had not expected to meet his wife. As soon as he saw the widow, Bender turned on his heel and, keeping close to the waU, hurried along the corridor. ‘ Comrade Bender! ’ she screamed with dehght. ‘ Where are you going ? ’ The great schemer increased his pace, but the widow also increased hers. ‘ Wait! Wait ! ’ she shouted. ‘ I want to teU you something.’ But her words did not reach Bender’s ears, for he was already four corridors away, racing along and bounding upstairs. All she could hear was the echo of his footsteps. ‘ Thank you very much,’ Bender said to himself as he took a rest on the fifth corridor. ‘ A nice time to choose for a rendezvous ! What does she want here? It is high time for us to liquidate the Moscow part of our adventure, or it may end badly for me.’ Meanwhile the widow, who was separated from him by three stories, several hundred doors, and a dozen corridors, mopped her face with the hem of her skirt and then set out again in pursuit of her love. She wanted to meet him as quickly as possible and come to some understanding with him. But all the corridors and all the doors were alike, and she was frightened. She wanted to get out, and faster and faster she ran down the corridors, imtil she could hardly stop herself, and as she ran the doors of the various departments seemed to flash past her at a terrific rate. At last she came out on to a landing. It was dark, but she overcame her fear, ran downstairs, and tugged violently at the handle of a door that had glass panels in it. The door was locked, so she rushed upstairs
