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"Ilya Petrovitch!" the head clerk was beginning anxiously, but

stopped short, for he knew from experience that the enraged

assistant could not be stopped except by force.

As for the smart lady, at first she positively trembled before

the storm. But, strange to say, the more numerous and violent the

terms of abuse became, the more amiable she looked, and the more

seductive the smiles she lavished on the terrible assistant. She

moved uneasily, and curtsied incessantly, waiting impatiently for

a chance of putting in her word: and at last she found it.