platoff took the steel flea, and as he passed through tula on his way to the don he showed it to the tula gunsmiths and repeated to them the emperor's words, and they asked: "and now,[pg 28] what shall we do about it, orthodox believers?"
the gunsmiths replied: "we are touched by the gracious word of the emperor, batiushka,[19] and we can never forget him, because he places reliance upon his own people; but what we must do in the present case we cannot say in one minute, because the english nation also is not stupid, but even tolerably cunning, and their art hath much sensible contrivance. with that," said they, "we must cope after due reflection, and with the blessing of god. but if thou, gracious master, like unto our gracious sovereign, hast confidence in us, then do thou go to thy home on the quiet don, but leave this flea with us,[pg 29] just as it is, in its case, and in the imperial golden snuff-box. take thy pleasure upon the don, and heal the wounds which thou hast accepted for the sake of the fatherland, and when thou returnest through tula, halt and send for us. by that time, god granting, we shall have devised something."
platoff was not wholly satisfied that the men of tula should demand so much time, and moreover, that they should not say plainly just what they intended to make. he questioned them this way and that, and craftily engaged them in conversation in all sorts of manners, after the fashion of the don; but the tula men did not yield to him one whit in cunning, for they had suddenly caught an idea which they could not even hope that platoff would believe in, and they desired to execute fully their daring plan, and then hand it over.
said they: "we do not ourselves[pg 30] know, as yet, what thing we shall undertake; only, trust in god, and perchance the imperial word will not be put to shame through us." and thus did platoff use crafty mental shifts, and the men of tula likewise.
platoff shifted and shuffled, shifted and shuffled, and perceived, at last, that to out-shift and out-shuffle a tula man was beyond his powers; so he gave them the snuff-box with the nymfozoria, and said: "well, there's nothing else to be done; be it according to your will. i know you—what sort of fellows ye are—but there's nothing else to be done; i trust you, only look to it that you will not exchange the diamond, and will not spoil the delicate english work, and that you will not be long about the job, for i travel fast; two weeks will not have passed before i shall return from the quiet don to petrograd, and then you must, without[pg 31] fail, let me have something to show to the emperor."
the gunsmiths reassured him fully.
"we will not injure the delicate work," said they, "and we will not exchange the diamond, and two weeks is time enough for us; and against that occasion of your return you shall have something worthy to show to the emperor's magnificence." but, all the same, they did not say precisely what that something was to be.
