The next day, when Platoff presented himself to the Emperor to wish him
good-morning, the latter said to him: "Let the two-seated carriage be
put to immediately, and let us look at more museums."
Platoff went so far as to suggest: "Had they not seen enough foreign
products, and would it not be better to betake themselves to Russia?"
but the Emperor says: "No, I desire to behold still other novelties.
They have boasted to me that they make the very finest sort of sugar
here."
They drove off.
The Englishmen kept showing the Emperor the different prime products
they had, but Platoff stared and stared, and suddenly said: "Show us
your manufactures of _molva_ sugar."[11]
But the Englishmen did not even know what _molva_ was. They whispered
together, and winked at one another, and kept repeating "_Molva_,
_molva_" but they could not understand that such a sugar was made in
our parts, and were obliged to confess that they had all sorts of
sugar, but not _molva_.
Platoff says: "Well, then, you have nothing to brag about. Come to
us, and we will treat you to tea with real _molva_ from the Bobrinsky
factories."[12]
But the Emperor plucked him by the sleeve, and said softly: "Please
don't ruin my politics."
Then the Englishmen invited the Emperor to the last museum of all,
where were collected all the mineral stones and nymfozoria[13] from the
whole world, beginning with the hugest Egyptian Keramids,[14] and going
down to the subcutaneous flea, which cannot be seen by the eye, though
its bite is between the skin and the body.
The Emperor went.
They had inspected the Keramids and all sorts of stuffed animals, and
were on their way out, and Platoff thinks to himself: "Now, glory to
God, all is well--the Emperor admires nothing!"
But no sooner had they reached the very last room, when lo! there stood
workmen in their every-day waistcoats and aprons, holding a salver on
which there was nothing at all. And the Emperor began to wonder what
they were giving him on the empty salver.
"What is the meaning of this?" he asks.
And the English artisans reply: "This is a respectful gift from us to
Your Majesty."
"But what is it?"
"Here," they say, "please to observe this tiny speck."
The Emperor looked and saw that the tiniest sort of a speck really was
lying upon the salver.