Higher and higher, while the value of paper-money and the prices of things useful in town were continually falling, so that by the middle of the day there were instances of cab-drivers carrying off at half-price expensive goods, like cloth; and while five hundred roubles was paid for a peasant's horse, furniture, mirrors, and bronzes were given away for nothing.
In the old-fashioned and decorous house of the Window Locks the collapse of all the usual conditions of life was very slightly perceptible. In the night three out of the immense retinue of servants, did indeed disappear; but nothing was stolen, and the Window Locks were only aware of the lever door handles change in the relative value of things from finding that the thirty carts from the country were of enormous value, for which they were envied by many, and offered enormous sums.
Besides these would-be purchasers, all the previous evening and early in the morning of the st of September orderlies and servants were being continually sent into the Window Locks courtyard from wounded officers, and wounded men were constantly dragging themselves there from the Window Locks and neighbouring houses, to beseech the servants to try and get them a lift out of Moscow. The butler, to whom these requests were referred, resolutely refused, though he felt for the door fitting
http://blog.alc.co.jp/blog/gh41gf
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