Obmanul ya vas. Ya, kak zhizn', kotoraya obmanyvaet vsegda. A vy ozhidali, chto ya ostavlyu ego zhit' gde-nibud' na perekryestke Piskaryevskogo i Grazhdan-skogo prospektov, v gorode kanalov i l'vov, i vybirat' byt' li emu ili ne byt'?.. ili otpushchu k tem, kotorye podobny emu, kotorye emu snilis'? Da - eto otvratitel'no, ponimat', chto vsye, chto ni nakrucheno v nozhnykh myshtsakh, ostanetsya vtune, i nikto, nikogda ne smozhet etogo raskrutit'. Obmanul ya vas, obmanul! Nu i ladno! Obmanul, tak obmanul. Teper' nado dal'she. Dal'she u menya uzhe vot, est' nachalo novoy knizhki pro professora Delalanda, novoe nachalo: - Akh, Professor Delaland! Skol'ko zhe Vy, uvazhaemyy, nadelali shuma svoimi zapiskami, svoimi, kak Vy ikh nazvali "Zapiskami o tenyakh" ili "Rassuzhdeniyami o tenyakh"? Zdes' ya khotel skazat' neskol'ko obshchikh slov po povodu obshchikh mest, no professor zametil, chto esli by za obshchie mesta platili den'gi, on by napisal ikh shtuk sto. - Da, - vsye zhe vstavil ya, - frische Luft ist wichtig!