39b
KONSTANTIN PAUSTOVSKY
finger man. That was how he made his living. He received a cut
for his services and that was why Babel was such an inconvenient
lodger for the old man. He was liable to scare off the old
man',
d . b
.
cl'
I
armg ut cautIous lents....
Now Babel finally understood Cires'
hints
about his pocketful
of troubles and made up his mind to leave in a few days. He needed
I
a little time to worm out of the old finger man everything of interest
he could tell him; Babel knew
he
had a genius for finding every·
thing out about people, for "gutting" them mercilessly and
per.
sistently, or, as they used to say in Odessa, for "knocking their souls
right out of them."
But on this occasion Babel was too late. One day, while Babel
was out, Cires was stabbed to death in his apartment.
When Babel returned to the Moldavanka he found the
militia
all over the place and, in his room, the inspector in person, sitting
at his desk writing a report. He was a polite young man in blue
twill '
riding breeches. His ambition was to become a writer too. His at·
titude to Babel was therefore respectful.
"I must request," he told Babel, "that you remove your
things
immediately and leave this house. Otherwise I will be unable
to
guarantee your personal safety even during the next twenty-four
hours. You must understand that this is the Moldavanka!"
And Babel fled, shuddering at the hoarse howls of Hava, who
called down all sorts of curses on Senka's head, and everyone who
had, in her opinion, been involved in Cires' murder....
"May Semyon," she shouted, swaying and sobbing and calling
Senka
by
his full name on this occasion, "may he drink vodka
mixed with rat poison and croak on his vomit! And may feet
trample to death his mother, the old viper Miriam who gave birth
to this hellhound and satan! Mayall the Moldavanka boys sharpen
their knives and cut him to shreds for twelve days and twelve
nights! I wish, Senka, you may burn in a slow flame and burst
in
your own boiling fat!"
Soon after Babel learned all the details of Cires' death. It
appeared that Cires himself was to blame and therefore not a soul
in all the Moldavanka, except Hava, was
sorry
for him. Not a soul!
The fact was that Cires had proved to be a dishonest old man and,
hence, no power on earth could have saved him. This is what
had
