Dead Souls
built--the type which has huge gables supporting a high-pitched roof.
In the centre of the courtyard two great lime trees covered half the
surrounding space with shade, while beneath them were ranged a number
of wooden benches, and the whole was encircled with a ring of blossoming
lilacs and cherry trees which, like a beaded necklace, reinforced the
wooden fence, and almost buried it beneath their clusters of leaves and
flowers. The house, too, stood almost concealed by this greenery,
except that the front door and the windows peered pleasantly through the
foliage, and that here and there between the stems of the trees there
could be caught glimpses of the kitchen regions, the storehouses, and
the cellar. Lastly, around the whole stood a grove, from the recesses of
which came the echoing songs of nightingales.
Involuntarily the place communicated to the soul a sort of quiet,
restful feeling, so eloquently did it speak of that care-free period
when every one lived on good terms with his neighbour, and all was
simple and unsophisticated. Vassili invited Chichikov to seat himself,
and the party approached, for that purpose, the benches under the lime
trees; after which a youth of about seventeen, and clad in a red shirt,
brought decanters containing various kinds of kvass (some of them as
thick as syrup, and others hissing like aerated lemonade), deposited the
same upon the table, and, taking up a spade which he had left leaning
against a tree, moved away towards the garden. The reason of this was
that in the brothers’ household, as in that of Kostanzhoglo, no servants
were kept, since the whole staff were rated as gardeners, and performed
that duty in rotation--Vassili holding that domestic service was not a
specialised calling, but one to which any one might contribute a hand,
and therefore one which did not require special menials to be kept for
the purpose. Moreover, he held that the average Russian peasant remains
active and willing (rather than lazy) only so long as he wears a shirt
and a peasant’s smock; but that as soon as ever he finds himself
put into a German tailcoat, he becomes awkward, sluggish, indolent,
disinclined to change his vest or take a bath, fond of sleeping in his
clothes, and certain to breed fleas and bugs under the German apparel.
And it may be that Vassili was right. At all events, the brothers’
peasantry were exceedingly well clad--the women, in particular, having
their head-dresses spangled with gold, and the sleeves of their blouses
embroidered after the fashion of a Turkish shawl.
“You see here the species of kvass for which our house has long been
famous,” said Vassili to Chichikov. The latter poured himself out a
glassful from the first decanter which he lighted upon, and found
the contents to be linden honey of a kind never tasted by him even in
Poland, seeing that it had a sparkle like that of champagne, and also an
effervescence which sent a pleasant spray from the mouth into the nose.
“Nectar!” he proclaimed. Then he took some from a second decanter. It
proved to be even better than the first. “A beverage of beverages!” he
exclaimed. “At your respected brother-in-law’s I tasted the finest
syrup which has ever come my way, but here I have tasted the very finest
kvass.”
“Yet the recipe for the syrup also came from here,” said Vassili,
“seeing that my sister took it with her. By the way, to what part of the
country, and to what places, are you thinking of travelling?”
“To tell the truth,” replied Chichikov, rocking himself to and fro on
the bench, and smoothing his knee with his hand, and gently inclining
his head, “I am travelling less on my own affairs than on the affairs of
others. That is to say, General Betristchev, an intimate friend, and,
I might add, a generous benefactor of mine, has charged me with
commissions to some of his relatives. Nevertheless, though relatives are
relatives, I may say that I am travelling on my own account as well, in
that, in addition to possible benefit to my health, I desire to see the
world and the whirligig of humanity, which constitute, to so speak, a
living book, a second course of education.”
Vassili took thought. “The man speaks floridly,” he reflected, “yet his
words contain a certain element of truth.” After a moment’s silence he
added to Platon: “I am beginning to think that the tour might help you
to bestir yourself. At present you are in a condition of mental slumber.
You have fallen asleep, not so much from weariness or satiety, as
through a lack of vivid perceptions and impressions. For myself, I am
your complete antithesis. I should be only too glad if I could feel less
acutely, if I could take things less to heart.”
“Emotion has become a disease with you,” said Platon. “You seek your own
troubles, and make your own anxieties.”
“How can you say that when ready-made anxieties greet one at every
step?” exclaimed Vassili. “For example, have you heard of the trick
which Lienitsin has just played us--of his seizing the piece of vacant
land whither our peasants resort for their sports? That piece I would
not sell for all the money in the world. It has long been our peasants’
play-ground, and all the traditions of our village are bound up with it.
Moreover, for me, old custom is a sacred thing for which I would gladly
sacrifice everything else.”
“Lienitsin cannot have known of this, or he would not have seized the
land,” said Platon. “He is a newcomer, just arrived from St. Petersburg.
A few words of explanation ought to meet the case.”
“But he DOES know of what I have stated; he DOES know of it. Purposely
I sent him word to that affect, yet he has returned me the rudest of
answers.”
“Then go yourself and explain matters to him.”
“No, I will not do that; he has tried to carry off things with too high
a hand. But YOU can go if you like.”
“I would certainly go were it not that I scarcely like to interfere.
Also, I am a man whom he could easily hoodwink and outwit.”
“Would it help you if _I_ were to go?” put in Chichikov. “Pray enlighten
me as to the matter.”
Vassili glanced at the speaker, and thought to himself: “What a passion
the man has for travelling!”
“Yes, pray give me an idea of the kind of fellow,” repeated Chichikov,
“and also outline to me the affair.”
“I should be ashamed to trouble you with such an unpleasant commission,”
replied Vassili. “He is a man whom I take to be an utter rascal.
Originally a member of a family of plain dvoriane in this province, he
entered the Civil Service in St. Petersburg, then married some one’s
natural daughter in that city, and has returned to lord it with a high
hand. I cannot bear the tone he adopts. Our folk are by no means fools.
They do not look upon the current fashion as the Tsar’s ukaz any more
than they look upon St. Petersburg as the Church.”
“Naturally,” said Chichikov. “But tell me more of the particulars of the
quarrel.”
“They are these. He needs additional land and, had he not acted as he
has done, I would have given him some land elsewhere for nothing; but,
as it is, the pestilent fellow has taken it into his head to--”
“I think I had better go and have a talk with him. That might settle the
affair. Several times have people charged me with similar commissions,
and never have they repented of it. General Betristchev is an example.”
“Nevertheless I am ashamed that you should be put to the annoyance of
having to converse with such a fellow.”
[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