Dead Souls — Part II, Chapter IV - Section 2

[At this point there occurs a long hiatus.

] “And above all things, such a transaction would need to be carried through in secret,” said Chichikov.

“True, the law does not forbid such things, but there is always the risk of a scandal.

” “Quite so, quite so,” said Lienitsin with head bent down.

“Then we agree!

” exclaimed Chichikov.

“How charming!

As I say, my business is both legal and illegal.

Though needing to effect a mortgage, I desire to put no one to the risk of having to pay the two roubles on each living soul; wherefore I have conceived the idea of relieving landowners of that distasteful obligation by acquiring dead and absconded souls who have failed to disappear from the revision list.

This enables me at once to perform an act of Christian charity and to remove from the shoulders of our more impoverished proprietors the burden of tax-payment upon souls of the kind specified.

Should you yourself care to do business with me, we will draw up a formal purchase agreement as though the souls in question were still alive.

” “But it would be such a curious arrangement,” muttered Lienitsin, moving his chair and himself a little further away.

“It would be an arrangement which, er--er--” “Would involve you in no scandal whatever, seeing that the affair would be carried through in secret.

Moreover, between friends who are well-disposed towards one another--” “Nevertheless--” Chichikov adopted a firmer and more decided tone.

“I repeat that there would be no scandal,” he said.

“The transaction would take place as between good friends, and as between friends of mature age, and as between friends of good status, and as between friends who know how to keep their own counsel.

” And, so saying, he looked his interlocutor frankly and generously in the eyes.

Nevertheless Lienitsin’s resourcefulness and acumen in business matters failed to relieve his mind of a certain perplexity--and the less so since he had contrived to become caught in his own net.

Yet, in general, he possessed neither a love for nor a talent for underhand dealings, and, had not fate and circumstances favoured Chichikov by causing Lienitsin’s wife to enter the room at that moment, things might have turned out very differently from what they did.

Madame was a pale, thin, insignificant-looking young lady, but none the less a lady who wore her clothes a la St. Petersburg, and cultivated the society of persons who were unimpeachably comme il faut.

Behind her, borne in a nurse’s arms, came the first fruits of the love of husband and wife.

Adopting his most telling method of approach (the method accompanied with a sidelong inclination of the head and a sort of hop), Chichikov hastened to greet the lady from the metropolis, and then the baby.

At first the latter started to bellow disapproval, but the words “Agoo, agoo, my pet!

” added to a little cracking of the fingers and a sight of a beautiful seal on a watch chain, enabled Chichikov to weedle the infant into his arms; after which he fell to swinging it up and down until he had contrived to raise a smile on its face--a circumstance which greatly delighted the parents, and finally inclined the father in his visitor’s favour.

Suddenly, however--whether from pleasure or from some other cause--the infant misbehaved itself!

“My God!

” cried Madame.

“He has gone and spoilt your frockcoat!

” True enough, on glancing downwards, Chichikov saw that the sleeve of his brand-new garment had indeed suffered a hurt.

“If I could catch you alone, you little devil,” he muttered to himself, “I’d shoot you!

” Host, hostess and nurse all ran for eau-de-Cologne, and from three sides set themselves to rub the spot affected.

“Never mind, never mind; it is nothing,” said Chichikov as he strove to communicate to his features as cheerful an expression as possible.

“What does it matter what a child may spoil during the golden age of its infancy?

” To himself he remarked: “The little brute!

Would it could be devoured by wolves.

It has made only too good a shot, the cussed young ragamuffin!

” How, after this--after the guest had shown such innocent affection for the little one, and magnanimously paid for his so doing with a brand-new suit--could the father remain obdurate?

Nevertheless, to avoid setting a bad example to the countryside, he and Chichikov agreed to carry through the transaction PRIVATELY, lest, otherwise, a scandal should arise.

“In return,” said Chichikov, “would you mind doing me the following favour?

I desire to mediate in the matter of your difference with the Brothers Platonov.

I believe that you wish to acquire some additional land?

Is not that so?

” [Here there occurs a hiatus in the original.

] Everything in life fulfils its function, and Chichikov’s tour in search of a fortune was carried out so successfully that not a little money passed into his pockets.

The system employed was a good one: he did not steal, he merely used.

And every one of us at times does the same: one man with regard to Government timber, and another with regard to a sum belonging to his employer, while a third defrauds his children for the sake of an actress, and a fourth robs his peasantry for the sake of smart furniture or a carriage.

What can one do when one is surrounded on every side with roguery, and everywhere there are insanely expensive restaurants, masked balls, and dances to the music of gipsy bands?

To abstain when every one else is indulging in these things, and fashion commands, is difficult indeed!

Chichikov was for setting forth again, but the roads had now got into a bad state, and, in addition, there was in preparation a second fair--one for the dvoriane only.

The former fair had been held for the sale of horses, cattle, cheese, and other peasant produce, and the buyers had been merely cattle-jobbers and kulaks; but this time the function was to be one for the sale of manorial produce which had been bought up by wholesale dealers at Nizhni Novgorod, and then transferred hither.

To the fair, of course, came those ravishers of the Russian purse who, in the shape of Frenchmen with pomades and Frenchwomen with hats, make away with money earned by blood and hard work, and, like the locusts of Egypt (to use Kostanzhoglo’s term) not only devour their prey, but also dig holes in the ground and leave behind their eggs.

Although, unfortunately, the occurrence of a bad harvest retained many landowners at their country houses, the local tchinovniks (whom the failure of the harvest did NOT touch) proceeded to let themselves go--as also, to their undoing, did their wives.

The reading of books of the type diffused, in these modern days, for the inoculation of humanity with a craving for new and superior amenities of life had caused every one to conceive a passion for experimenting with the latest luxury; and to meet this want the French wine merchant opened a new establishment in the shape of a restaurant as had never before been heard of in the province--a restaurant where supper could be procured on credit as regarded one-half, and for an unprecedentedly low sum as regarded the other.

This exactly suited both heads of boards and clerks who were living in hope of being able some day to resume their bribes-taking from suitors.

There also developed a tendency to compete in the matter of horses and liveried flunkeys; with the result that despite the damp and snowy weather exceedingly elegant turnouts took to parading backwards and forwards.

Whence these equipages had come God only knows, but at least they would not have disgraced St. Petersburg.

From within them merchants and attorneys doffed their caps to ladies, and inquired after their health, and likewise it became a rare sight to see a bearded man in a rough fur cap, since every one now went about clean-shaven and with dirty teeth, after the European fashion.

“Sir, I beg of you to inspect my goods,” said a tradesman as Chichikov was passing his establishment.

“Within my doors you will find a large variety of clothing.

” “Have you a cloth of bilberry-coloured check?

” inquired the person addressed.

“I have cloths of the finest kind,” replied the tradesman, raising his cap with one hand, and pointing to his shop with the other.

Chichikov entered, and in a trice the proprietor had dived beneath the counter, and appeared on the other side of it, with his back to his wares and his face towards the customer.

Leaning forward on the tips of his fingers, and indicating his merchandise with just the suspicion of a nod, he requested the gentleman to specify exactly the species of cloth which he required.

“A cloth with an olive-coloured or a bottle-tinted spot in its pattern--anything in the nature of bilberry,” explained Chichikov.

“That being so, sir, I may say that I am about to show you clothes of a quality which even our illustrious capitals could not surpass.

Hi, boy!

Reach down that roll up there--number 34. No, NOT that one, fool!

Such fellows as you are always too good for your job.

There--hand it to me.

This is indeed a nice pattern!

” Unfolding the garment, the tradesman thrust it close to Chichikov’s nose in order that he might not only handle, but also smell it.

“Excellent, but not what I want,” pronounced Chichikov.

“Formerly I was in the Custom’s Department, and therefore wear none but cloth of the latest make.

What I want is of a ruddier pattern than this--not exactly a bottle-tinted pattern, but something approaching bilberry.

” “I understand, sir.

Of course you require only the very newest thing.

A

cloth of that kind I DO possess, sir, and though excessive in price, it is of a quality to match.

” Carrying the roll of stuff to the light--even stepping into the street for the purpose--the shopman unfolded his prize with the words, “A truly beautiful shade!

A cloth of smoked grey, shot with flame colour!

” The material met with the customer’s approval, a price was agreed upon, and with incredible celerity the vendor made up the purchase into a brown-paper parcel, and stowed it away in Chichikov’s koliaska.

At this moment a voice asked to be shown a black frockcoat.

“The devil take me if it isn’t Khlobuev!

” muttered our hero, turning his back upon the newcomer.

Unfortunately the other had seen him.

“Come, come, Paul Ivanovitch!

” he expostulated.

“Surely you do not intend to overlook me?

I have been searching for you everywhere, for I have something important to say to you.

” “My dear sir, my very dear sir,” said Chichikov as he pressed Khlobuev’s hand, “I can assure you that, had I the necessary leisure, I should at all times be charmed to converse with you.

” And mentally he added: “Would that the Evil One would fly away with you!

” Almost at the same time Murazov, the great landowner, entered the shop.

As he did so our hero hastened to exclaim: “Why, it is Athanasi Vassilievitch!

How ARE you, my very dear sir?

” “Well enough,” replied Murazov, removing his cap (Khlobuev and the shopman had already done the same).

“How, may I ask, are YOU?

” “But poorly,” replied Chichikov, “for of late I have been troubled with indigestion, and my sleep is bad.

I do not get sufficient exercise.

” However, instead of probing deeper into the subject of Chichikov’s ailments, Murazov turned to Khlobuev.

“I saw you enter the shop,” he said, “and therefore followed you, for I have something important for your ear.

Could you spare me a minute or two?

” “Certainly, certainly,” said Khlobuev, and the pair left the shop together.

“I wonder what is afoot between them,” said Chichikov to himself.

“A wise and noble gentleman, Athanasi Vassilievitch!

” remarked the tradesman.

Chichikov made no reply save a gesture.

“Paul Ivanovitch, I have been looking for you everywhere,” Lienitsin’s voice said from behind him, while again the tradesman hastened to remove his cap.

“Pray come home with me, for I have something to say to you.

” Chichikov scanned the speaker’s face, but could make nothing of it.

Paying the tradesman for the cloth, he left the shop.

Meanwhile Murazov had conveyed Khlobuev to his rooms.

“Tell me,” he said to his guest, “exactly how your affairs stand.

I take it that, after all, your aunt left you something?

” “It would be difficult to say whether or not my affairs are improved,” replied Khlobuev.

“True, fifty souls and thirty thousand roubles came to me from Madame Khanasarova, but I had to pay them away to satisfy my debts.

Consequently I am once more destitute.

But the important point is that there was trickery connected with the legacy, and shameful trickery at that.

Yes, though it may surprise you, it is a fact that that fellow Chichikov--” “Yes, Semen Semenovitch, but, before you go on to speak of Chichikov, pray tell me something about yourself, and how much, in your opinion, would be sufficient to clear you of your difficulties?

” “My difficulties are grievous,” replied Khlobuev.

“To rid myself of them, and also to have enough to go on with, I should need to acquire at least a hundred thousand roubles, if not more.

In short, things are becoming impossible for me.

” “And, had you the money, what should you do with it?

” “I should rent a tenement, and devote myself to the education of my children.

Not a thought should I give to myself, for my career is over, seeing that it is impossible for me to re-enter the Civil Service and I am good for nothing else.

” “Nevertheless, when a man is leading an idle life he is apt to incur temptations which shun his better-employed brother.

” “Yes, but beyond question I am good for nothing, so broken is my health, and such a martyr I am to dyspepsia.

” “But how do you propose to live without working?

How can a man like you exist without a post or a position of any kind?

Look around you at the works of God.

Everything has its proper function, and pursues its proper course.

Even a stone can be used for one purpose or another.

How, then, can it be right for a man who is a thinking being to remain a drone?

” “But I should not be a drone, for I should employ myself with the education of my children.

” “No, Semen Semenovitch--no: THAT you would find the hardest task of all.

For how can a man educate his children who has never even educated himself?

Instruction can be imparted to children only through the medium of example; and would a life like yours furnish them with a profitable example--a life which has been spent in idleness and the playing of cards?

No, Semen Semenovitch.

You had far better hand your children over to me.

Otherwise they will be ruined.

Do not think that I am jesting.

Idleness has wrecked your life, and you must flee from it.

Can a man live with nothing to keep him in place?

Even a journeyman labourer who earns the barest pittance may take an interest in his occupation.

” “Athanasi Vassilievitch, I have tried to overcome myself, but what further resource lies open to me?

Can I who am old and incapable re-enter the Civil Service and spend year after year at a desk with youths who are just starting their careers?

Moreover, I have lost the trick of taking bribes; I should only hinder both myself and others;

while, as you know, it is a department which has an established caste of its own.

Therefore, though I have considered, and even attempted to obtain, every conceivable post, I find myself incompetent for them all.

Only in a monastery should I--” “Nay, nay.

Monasteries, again, are only for those who have worked.

To those who have spent their youth in dissipation such havens say what the ant said to the dragonfly--namely, ‘Go you away, and return to your dancing.

’ Yes, even in a monastery do folk toil and toil--they do not sit playing whist.

” Murazov looked at Khlobuev, and added: “Semen Semenovitch, you are deceiving both yourself and me.

” Poor Khlobuev could not utter a word in reply, and Murazov began to feel sorry for him.

“Listen, Semen Semenovitch,” he went on.

“I know that you say your prayers, and that you go to church, and that you observe both Matins and Vespers, and that, though averse to early rising, you leave your bed at four o’clock in the morning before the household fires have been lit.

” “Ah, Athanasi Vassilievitch,” said Khlobuev, “that is another matter altogether.

That I do, not for man’s sake, but for the sake of Him who has ordered all things here on earth.

Yes, I believe that He at least can feel compassion for me, that He at least, though I be foul and lowly, will pardon me and receive me when all men have cast me out, and my best friend has betrayed me and boasted that he has done it for a good end.

” Khlobuev’s face was glowing with emotion, and from the older man’s eyes also a tear had started.

“You will do well to hearken unto Him who is merciful,” he said.

“But remember also that, in the eyes of the All-Merciful, honest toil is of equal merit with a prayer.

Therefore take unto yourself whatsoever task you may, and do it as though you were doing it, not unto man, but unto God.

Even though to your lot there should fall but the cleaning of a floor, clean that floor as though it were being cleaned for Him alone.

And thence at least this good you will reap: that there will remain to you no time for what is evil--for card playing, for feasting, for all the life of this gay world.

Are you acquainted with Ivan Potapitch?

” “Yes, not only am I acquainted with him, but I also greatly respect him.

” “Time was when Ivan Potapitch was a merchant worth half a million roubles.

In everything did he look but for gain, and his affairs prospered exceedingly, so much so that he was able to send his son to be educated in France, and to marry his daughter to a General.

And whether in his office or at the Exchange, he would stop any friend whom he encountered and carry him off to a tavern to drink, and spend whole days thus employed.

But at last he became bankrupt, and God sent him other misfortunes also.

His son!

Ah, well!

Ivan Potapitch is now my steward, for he had to begin life over again.

Yet once more his affairs are in order, and, had it been his wish, he could have restarted in business with a capital of half a million roubles.

‘But no,’ he said.

‘A steward am I, and a steward will I remain to the end; for, from being full-stomached and heavy with dropsy, I have become strong and well.

’ Not a drop of liquor passes his lips, but only cabbage soup and gruel.

And he prays as none of the rest of us pray, and he helps the poor as none of the rest of us help them; and to this he would add yet further charity if his means permitted him to do so.

” Poor Khlobuev remained silent, as before.

The elder man took his two hands in his.

“Semen Semenovitch,” he said, “you cannot think how much I pity you, or how much I have had you in my thoughts.

Listen to me.

In the monastery there is a recluse who never looks upon a human face.

Of all men whom I know he has the broadest mind, and he breaks not his silence save to give advice.

To him I went and said that I had a friend (though I did not actually mention your name) who was in great trouble of soul.

Suddenly the recluse interrupted me with the words: ‘God’s work first, and our own last.

There is need for a church to be built, but no money wherewith to build it.

Money must be collected to that end.

’ Then he shut to the wicket.

I wondered to myself what this could mean, and concluded that the recluse had been unwilling to accord me his counsel.

Next I repaired to the Archimandrite, and had scarce reached his door when he inquired of me whether I could commend to him a man meet to be entrusted with the collection of alms for a church--a man who should belong to the dvoriane or to the more lettered merchants, but who would guard the trust as he would guard the salvation of his soul.

On the instant thought I to myself: ‘Why should not the Holy Father appoint my friend Semen Semenovitch?

For the way of suffering would benefit him greatly; and as he passed with his ledger from landowner to peasant, and from peasant to townsman, he would learn where folk dwell, and who stands in need of aught, and thus would become better acquainted with the countryside than folk who dwell in cities.

And, thus become, he would find that his services were always in demand.

’ Only of late did the Governor-General say to me that, could he but be furnished with the name of a secretary who should know his work not only by the book but also by experience, he would give him a great sum, since nothing is to be learned by the former means, and, through it, much confusion arises.

” “You confound me, you overwhelm me!

” said Khlobuev, staring at his companion in open-eyed astonishment.

“I can scarcely believe that your words are true, seeing that for such a trust an active, indefatigable man would be necessary.

Moreover, how could I leave my wife and children unprovided for?

” “Have no fear,” said Murazov, “I myself will take them under my care, as well as procure for the children a tutor.

Far better and nobler were it for you to be travelling with a wallet, and asking alms on behalf of God, then to be remaining here and asking alms for yourself alone.

Likewise, I will furnish you with a tilt-waggon, so that you may be saved some of the hardships of the journey, and thus be preserved in good health.

Also, I will give you some money for the journey, in order that, as you pass on your way, you may give to those who stand in greater need than their fellows.

Thus, if, before giving, you assure yourself that the recipient of the alms is worthy of the same, you will do much good; and as you travel you will become acquainted with all men and sundry, and they will treat you, not as a tchinovnik to be feared, but as one to whom, as a petitioner on behalf of the Church, they may unloose their tongues without peril.

” “I feel that the scheme is a splendid one, and would gladly bear my part in it were it not likely to exceed my strength.

” “What is there that does NOT exceed your strength?

” said Murazov.

“Nothing is wholly proportionate to it--everything surpasses it.

Help from above is necessary: otherwise we are all powerless.

Strength comes of prayer, and of prayer alone.

When a man crosses himself, and cries, ‘Lord, have mercy upon me!

’ he soon stems the current and wins to the shore.

Nor need you take any prolonged thought concerning this matter.

All that you need do is to accept it as a commission sent of God.

The tilt-waggon can be prepared for you immediately; and then, as soon as you have been to the Archimandrite for your book of accounts and his blessing, you will be free to start on your journey.

” “I submit myself to you, and accept the commission as a divine trust.

” And even as Khlobuev spoke he felt renewed vigour and confidence arise in his soul, and his mind begin to awake to a sense of hopefulness of eventually being able to put to flight his troubles.

And even as it was, the world seemed to be growing dim to his eyes....

Meanwhile, plea after plea had been presented to the legal authorities, and daily were relatives whom no one had before heard of putting in an appearance.

Yes, like vultures to a corpse did these good folk come flocking to the immense property which Madam Khanasarov had left behind her.

Everywhere were heard rumours against Chichikov, rumours with regard to the validity of the second will, rumours with regard to will number one, and rumours of larceny and concealment of funds.

Also, there came to hand information with regard both to Chichikov’s purchase of dead souls and to his conniving at contraband goods during his service in the Customs Department.

In short, every possible item of evidence was exhumed, and the whole of his previous history investigated.

How the authorities had come to suspect and to ascertain all this God only knows, but the fact remains that there had fallen into the hands of those authorities information concerning matters of which Chichikov had believed only himself and the four walls to be aware.

True, for a time these matters remained within the cognisance of none but the functionaries concerned, and failed to reach Chichikov’s ears; but at length a letter from a confidential friend gave him reason to think that the fat was about to fall into the fire.

Said the letter briefly: “Dear sir, I beg to advise you that possibly legal trouble is pending, but that you have no cause for uneasiness, seeing that everything will be attended to by yours very truly.

” Yet, in spite of its tenor, the epistle reassured its recipient.

“What a genius the fellow is!

” thought Chichikov to himself.

Next, to complete his satisfaction, his tailor arrived with the new suit which he had ordered.

Not without a certain sense of pride did our hero inspect the frockcoat of smoked grey shot with flame colour and look at it from every point of view, and then try on the breeches--the latter fitting him like a picture, and quite concealing any deficiencies in the matter of his thighs and calves (though, when buckled behind, they left his stomach projecting like a drum).

True, the customer remarked that there appeared to be a slight tightness under the right armpit, but the smiling tailor only rejoined that that would cause the waist to fit all the better.

“Sir,” he said triumphantly, “you may rest assured that the work has been executed exactly as it ought to have been executed.

No one, except in St. Petersburg, could have done it better.

” As a matter of fact, the tailor himself hailed from St. Petersburg, but called himself on his signboard “Foreign Costumier from London and Paris”--the truth being that by the use of a double-barrelled flourish of cities superior to mere “Karlsruhe” and “Copenhagen” he designed to acquire business and cut out his local rivals.

Chichikov graciously settled the man’s account, and, as soon as he had gone, paraded at leisure, and con amore, and after the manner of an artist of aesthetic taste, before the mirror.

Somehow he seemed to look better than ever in the suit, for his cheeks had now taken on a still more interesting air, and his chin an added seductiveness, while his white collar lent tone to his neck, the blue satin tie heightened the effect of the collar, the fashionable dickey set off the tie, the rich satin waistcoat emphasised the dickey, and the smoked-grey-shot-with-flame-colour frockcoat, shining like silk, splendidly rounded off the whole.

When he turned to the right he looked well: when he turned to the left he looked even better.

In short, it was a costume worthy of a Lord Chamberlain or the species of dandy who shrinks from swearing in the Russian language, but amply relieves his feelings in the language of France.

Next, inclining his head slightly to one side, our hero endeavoured to pose as though he were addressing a middle-aged lady of exquisite refinement; and the result of these efforts was a picture which any artist might have yearned to portray.

Next, his delight led him gracefully to execute a hop in ballet fashion, so that the wardrobe trembled and a bottle of eau-de-Cologne came crashing to the floor.

Yet even this contretemps did not upset him; he merely called the offending bottle a fool, and then debated whom first he should visit in his attractive guise.

Suddenly there resounded through the hall a clatter of spurred heels, and then the voice of a gendarme saying: “You are commanded to present yourself before the Governor-General!

” Turning round, Chichikov stared in horror at the spectacle presented; for in the doorway there was standing an apparition wearing a huge moustache, a helmet surmounted with a horsehair plume, a pair of crossed shoulder-belts, and a gigantic sword!

A whole army might have been combined into a single individual!

And when Chichikov opened his mouth to speak the apparition repeated, “You are commanded to present yourself before the Governor-General,” and at the same moment our hero caught sight both of a second apparition outside the door and of a coach waiting beneath the window.

What was to be done?

Nothing whatever was possible.

Just as he stood--in his smoked-grey-shot-with-flame-colour suit--he had then and there to enter the vehicle, and, shaking in every limb, and with a gendarme seated by his side, to start for the residence of the Governor-General.

And even in the hall of that establishment no time was given him to pull himself together, for at once an aide-de-camp said: “Go inside immediately, for the Prince is awaiting you.

” And as in a dream did our hero see a vestibule where couriers were being handed dispatches, and then a salon which he crossed with the thought, “I suppose I am not to be allowed a trial, but shall be sent straight to Siberia!

” And at the thought his heart started beating in a manner which the most jealous of lovers could not have rivalled.

At length there opened a door, and before him he saw a study full of portfolios, ledgers, and dispatch-boxes, with, standing behind them, the gravely menacing figure of the Prince.

“There stands my executioner,” thought Chichikov to himself.

“He is about to tear me to pieces as a wolf tears a lamb.

” Indeed, the Prince’s lips were simply quivering with rage.

“Once before did I spare you,” he said, “and allow you to remain in the town when you ought to have been in prison: yet your only return for my clemency has been to revert to a career of fraud--and of fraud as dishonourable as ever a man engaged in.

” “To what dishonourable fraud do you refer, your Highness?

” asked Chichikov, trembling from head to foot.

The Prince approached, and looked him straight in the eyes.

“Let me tell you,” he said, “that the woman whom you induced to witness a certain will has been arrested, and that you will be confronted with her.

” The world seemed suddenly to grow dim before Chichikov’s sight.

“Your Highness,” he gasped, “I will tell you the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

I am guilty--yes, I am guilty; but I am not so guilty as you think, for I was led away by rascals.

” “That any one can have led you away is impossible,” retorted the Prince.

“Recorded against your name there stand more felonies than even the most hardened liar could have invented.

I believe that never in your life have you done a deed not innately dishonourable--that not a kopeck have you ever obtained by aught but shameful methods of trickery and theft, the penalty for which is Siberia and the knut.

But enough of this!

From this room you will be conveyed to prison, where, with other rogues and thieves, you will be confined until your trial may come on.

And this is lenient treatment on my part, for you are worse, far worse, than the felons who will be your companions.

THEY are but poor men in smocks and sheepskins, whereas YOU--” Without concluding his words, the Prince shot a glance at Chichikov’s smoked-grey-shot-with-flame-colour apparel.

Then he touched a bell.

“Your Highness,” cried Chichikov, “have mercy upon me!

You are the father of a family!

Spare me for the sake of my aged mother!

” “Rubbish!

” exclaimed the Prince.

“Even as before you besought me for the sake of a wife and children whom you did not even possess, so now you would speak to me of an aged mother!

” “Your Highness,” protested Chichikov, “though I am a wretch and the lowest of rascals, and though it is true that I lied when I told you that I possessed a wife and children, I swear that, as God is my witness, it has always been my DESIRE to possess a wife, and to fulfil all the duties of a man and a citizen, and to earn the respect of my fellows and the authorities.

But what could be done against the force of circumstances?

By hook or by crook I have ever been forced to win a living, though confronted at every step by wiles and temptations and traitorous enemies and despoilers.

So much has this been so that my life has, throughout, resembled a barque tossed by tempestuous waves, a barque driven at the mercy of the winds.

Ah, I am only a man, your Highness!

” And in a moment the tears had gushed in torrents from his eyes, and he had fallen forward at the Prince’s feet--fallen forward just as he was, in his smoked-grey-shot-with-flame-colour frockcoat, his velvet waistcoat, his satin tie, and his exquisitely fitting breeches, while from his neatly brushed pate, as again and again he struck his hand against his forehead, there came an odorous whiff of best-quality eau-de-Cologne.

“Away with him!

” exclaimed the Prince to the gendarme who had just entered.

“Summon the escort to remove him.

” “Your Highness!

” Chichikov cried again as he clasped the Prince’s knees;

but, shuddering all over, and struggling to free himself, the Prince repeated his order for the prisoner’s removal.

“Your Highness, I say that I will not leave this room until you have accorded me mercy!

” cried Chichikov as he clung to the Prince’s leg with such tenacity that, frockcoat and all, he began to be dragged along the floor.

“Away with him, I say!

” once more the Prince exclaimed with the sort of indefinable aversion which one feels at the sight of a repulsive insect which he cannot summon up the courage to crush with his boot.

So convulsively did the Prince shudder that Chichikov, clinging to his leg, received a kick on the nose.

Yet still the prisoner retained his hold;

until at length a couple of burly gendarmes tore him away and, grasping his arms, hurried him--pale, dishevelled, and in that strange, half-conscious condition into which a man sinks when he sees before him only the dark, terrible figure of death, the phantom which is so abhorrent to all our natures--from the building.

But on the threshold the party came face to face with Murazov, and in Chichikov’s heart the circumstance revived a ray of hope.