“Ippolit Matveevich turned even redder, pulled out a tiny notebook, and wrote in a calligraphic hand:

25/4/1927 — rubles issued to Comrade Bender — 8.

Ostap took a look inside the little book.

'Oh-ho! If you've gone ahead and opened a personal account for me, then the least you could do is tally it right. Start up a debit column, start up a credit column. Don't forget to enter the sixty thousand rubles you owe me in the debits, and the vest can go in the credits. The balance is in my favor: 59,992 rubles.”