Diamond Psychosis

The news that the notorious treasure of the Korobkov counts, hidden in 1812 not far from the museum-estate, had finally been found (well, almost found — all that remained was to dig it up), spread through Lozovsk with hurricane speed. By the time the treasure hunters arrived at the site and drove their shovels into the rain-slick soil, the entire town seemed to know that the archivist Sklyarov (in another version, Skladov) had discovered in the museum library a plan showing where the counts’ riches were buried. And as the rumor spread, the size of those riches kept growing steadily. Verochka told Svetochka about one sack of diamonds, Svetochka told Lenochka about two, Lenochka told Galechka about three, and so on. As a result, by noon the residents of Lozovsk were already gossiping about ten sacks, each weighing no less than fifty kilograms. Some optimists even spoke of a whole cartload…