The Master and Margarita

CHAPTER 18. Hapless Visitors       At the same time that the zealous bookkeeper was racing in a cab to hisencounter with the self-writing suit, from first-class sleeping car no. 9 ofthe Kiev train, on its  arrival in  Moscow, there alighted, among others,  adecent-looking   passenger  carrying  a   small  fibreboard  suitcase.  Thispassenger  was  none  other  than  the  late  Berlioz's  uncle,   MaximilianAndreevich Poplavsky,  an  industrial economist, who lived  in  Kiev  on theformer Institutsky Street. The reason for Maximilian Andreevich's coming  toMoscow was a telegram received late in the evening two days before  with thefollowing content:     Have  just  been run  over by tram-car  at Patriarch's  'Ponds  funeralFriday three pm come. Berlioz.     Maximilian Andreevich was considered one of the most intelligent men inKiev, and  deservedly  so. But even the most intelligent man might have beennonplussed  by such  a telegram. If  someone sends a telegram  saying he hasbeen  run over, it is clear that he has not died  of it. But then, what  wasthis about  a funeral? Or was he in a bad way and foreseeing death? That waspossible, but such precision was in the highest degree strange: how could heknow he would be buried on Friday at three pm? An astonishing telegram!     However, intelligence is granted to intelligent  people so as  to  sortout entangled affairs. Very simple. A mistake had been made, and the messagehad  been  distorted. The word 'have' had  undoubtedly come there from  someomer telegram  in place of the word 'Berlioz', which got moved and  wound upat the end  of  the telegram. With  such an emendation, the meaning  of  thetelegram became clear, though, of course, tragic.     When the  outburst of grief  that struck Maximilian  Andreevich's  wifesubsided, he at once started preparing to go to Moscow.     One secret  about Maximilian Andreevich ought  to be revealed. There isno arguing that  he felt  sorry for his wife's nephew,  who  had died in thebloom of life. But, of course, being a practical man, he realized that therewas  no  special need  for his  presence  at  the funeral.  And neverthelessMaximilian  Andreevich was  in great haste to  go  to  Moscow. What was  thepoint? The  point  was the  apartment.  An  apartment in Moscow is a seriousthing! For some  unknown reason, Maximilian  Andreevich did not like  Kiev,'and the thought of moving  to Moscow had been gnawing  at him so much latelythat he had even begun to sleep badly.     He  did  not  rejoice  in  the spring flooding  of the  Dnieper,  when,overflowing  the  islands by  the lower  bank,  the  water merged  with  thehorizon. He did not  rejoice in the staggeringly beautiful view which openedout from  the  foot  of  the monument to  Prince  Vladimir. He did  not takedelight in patches of sunlight playing in springtime on  the  brick paths ofVladimir's Hill. He wanted none  of it, he wanted only  one thing -- to moveto Moscow.     Advertising  in  the  newspapers  about  exchanging  an  apartment   onInstitutsky  Street  in Kiev  for  smaller  quarters  in  Moscow brought  noresults.  No takers were found,  or if they occasionally  were, their offerswere disingenuous.     The  telegram staggered  Maximilian  Andreevich.  This wa