"What are you plotting?" answered the Captain in the same tone.
He moved his chin so that his beard trembled a little; a
non-exacting person might have taken it for a bow; otherwise it
only expressed the desire of the Captain to move his pipe from
one corner of his mouth to the other. "You see, having plenty of
money, I can afford to sit hatching it. Money is a good thing,
and I possess it," the Captain chaffed the merchant, casting
cunning glances at him. "It means that you serve money, and not
money you," went on Kuvalda, desiring at the same time to punch
the merchant's belly.

"Isn't it all the same? Money makes life comfortable, but no
money," . . . and the merchant looked at the Captain with a
feigned expression of suffering. The other's upper lip curled,
and exposed large, wolf-like teeth.

"With brains and a conscience, it is possible to live without it.
Men only acquire riches when they cease to listen to their
conscience . . . the less conscience the more money!"

"Just so; but then there are men who have neither money nor
conscience."

"Were you just like what you are now when you were young?" asked
Kuvalda simply. The other's nostrils twitched. Ivan
Andreyevitch sighed, passed his hand over his eyes and said:

"Oh! When I was young I had to undergo a great many difficulties
. . . Work! Oh! I did work!"