However, although the British shareholder Sir Arthur Hastings has not received even a single ruble from Russia, in front of Mr. Zubkov, he still had to appear magnanimous.
"If Charles knew there was such an avid reader like you in distant Russia, I'm sure he would be very pleased," Arthur jested aptly: "Perhaps I should gift you the specimens Charles sent me from South America, for you clearly would make much better use of them than I could."
Upon hearing that Arthur intended to gift him the precious South American specimens, especially those rare species discovered by Darwin, Zubkov couldn't help but grin with delight: "You... I can't lie and say I'm not interested in those specimens, but I can't accept your gift freely. How about this, when you have time, you can visit me, as I also have a collection of rare Siberian animal specimens. If you're interested in any, feel free to speak up, I won't be stingy."
