His business calculation that there was a certain price below which he could not sell certain grain was forgotten too.

The rye, for the price of which he had so long held out, had been sold for fifty kopecks a measure cheaper than it had been fetching a month ago.

Even the consideration that with such an expenditure he could not go on living for a year without debt, that even had no force.

Only one thing was essential: to have money in the bank, without inquiring where it came from, so as to know that one had the wherewithal to buy meat for tomorrow.

And this condition had hitherto been fulfilled; he had always had the money in the bank.