“Well, and pray how did the chief of police impress you? He is a very agreeable man, is he not?”

“Extremely agreeable; and what a sensible, well-read man! We played whist with him, and the procurator, and the president of the court, until the cocks crowed. A very, very worthy man.”

“Well, and what is your opinion of the chief-of-police’s wife?” added Mrs. Manilova. “She is a very charming woman, is she not?”

“Oh, she is one of the most estimable women I know,” replied Tchitchikoff.

After this they dealt with the president of the court and the postmaster; and in this way they spoke of nearly all the officials in the town, who all seemed to be most estimable persons.

“Do you always live in the country?” asked Tchitchikoff, at length putting a question in his turn.

“Principally in the country,” answered Maniloff. “Sometimes, however, we go to town for the purpose of meeting cultivated people. One gets rusty, you know, if one lives all the time shut up.”

“True, true,” said Tchitchikoff.

“Of course,” continued Maniloff, “it would be a different thing if the neighbourhood were good—if, for instance, there were a man with whom one could in any way discuss amiability, good breeding, or follow up any science which would stir the soul, and impart a lofty flight, so to speak, to——” Here he wished to express something or other, and, perceiving that he had already conveyed some idea of his meaning, he simply waved his hand in the air, and went on. “Then, of course, the country and solitude would possess many charms. But there is absolutely no one hereabouts. Why, one merely reads the ‘Son of the Fatherland’ now and then.”

Tchitchikoff perfectly agreed with his entertainer, adding that, in his mind, nothing could be more delightful than to live in solitude, and enjoy the spectacle of nature, and sometimes read some book or other.

“But then, you know,” said Maniloff, “if you have no friend with whom you can share——”

“Oh, that is true, quite true,” interrupted Tchitchikoff. “What are all the treasures in the world under such circumstances? ‘Possess not money, possess good people for associates,’ said a certain wise man.”

“And do you know, Pavel Ivanovitch,” said Maniloff, with a look of mingled sweetness and hypocrisy, “with a true friend one experiences something in the nature of spiritual enjoyment? For instance, when chance afforded me the happiness, the signal happiness, I may say, of talking to you, and of enjoying your charming conversation——”

“Oh, really, now, what charming conversation do you mean? I am an insignificant man, and nothing more,” replied Tchitchikoff.

“O Pavel Ivanovitch! allow me to be frank. I would gladly give the half of all my possessions to acquire even a portion of your merits.”

“On the contrary, I, for my part, should regard it as the greatest——”

No one knows what this mutual outpouring of sentiment would have led to, if a servant had not announced at that moment that dinner was ready.

“I beg of you humbly,” said Maniloff, “to remain and dine with us. You will excuse us if our dinner is not like what people serve in capital cities; we simply have cabbage soup, after the Russian fashion, but we offer it with a pure heart. I most respectfully beg of you to join us.”