d Horizon:

"And that's very simple. There is really no demand of any sort for her.
Think it over for yourself, Annechka; her outfit costs fifty roubles,
Mr. Shatzky will receive twenty-five roubles, fifty roubles will be
left for you and me. And, glory be to God, we have done with her! At
least, she won't be compromising our establishment."

In such a way Sonka the Rudder, avoiding a rouble establishment, was
transferred into a half-rouble one, where all kinds of riff-raff made
sport of the girls at their own sweet will, whole nights through. There
tremendous health and great nervous force were requisite. Sonka once
began shivering from terror, in the night, when Thekla, a mountain of a
woman of some two hundred pounds, jumped out into the yard to fulfill a
need of nature, and cried out to the housekeeper who was passing by her:

"Housekeeper, dear! Listen--the thirty-sixth man! ... Don't forget!"

Fortunately, Sonka was not disturbed much; even in this establishment
she was too homely. No one paid any attention to her splendid eyes, and
they took her only in those instances when there was no other at hand.
The pharmacist sought her out and came every evening to her. But
cowardice, or a special Hebrew fastidiousness, or, perhaps, even
physical aversion, would not permit him to take the girl and carry her
away with him from the house. He would sit whole nights through near
her, and, as of yore, patiently waited until she would return from a
chance guest; created scenes of jealousy for her and yet loved her
still, and, sticking in the daytime behind the counter in his drug
store and rolling some stinking pills or other, ceaselessly thought of
her and yearned.

CHAPTER VI.

Immediately at the entrance to a suburban cabaret an artificial flower
bed shone with vari-colored lights, with electric bulbs instead of
flowers; and just such another fiery alley of wide, half-round arches,
narrowing toward the end, led away from it into the depths of the
garden. Further on was a broad, small square, strewn with yellow sand;
to the left an open stage, a theatre, and a shooting gallery; straight
ahead a stand for the military band (in the form of a seashell) and
little booths with flowers and beer; to the right the long terrace of
the restaurant. Electric globes from their high masts illuminated the
small square with a pale, dead-white brightness. Against their frosted
glass, with wire nets stretched over them, beat clou