conscious that he was growing too communicative; he asked for a carriage, and obtained the loan of the procurator’s drozhky. The coachman of this vehicle was an experienced young fellow, as soon became apparent on the road; for he drove with one hand, and, thrusting the other behind him, supported our hero with it. In this manner was Tchitchikoff conveyed in the procurator’s drozhky to his inn, where he still continued to talk all sorts of nonsense for a long while, chatting about a golden-haired bride with rosy cheeks, and a dimple on the right one; about estates in the Khersonese, and capital. Selifan even received instructions to collect all the newly purchased serfs, in order that a roll of them might be called. He listened for a long time in silence, and then he left the room, remarking to Petrushka, “Go and undress the master!”

Petrushka set about removing his master’s boots, and almost dragged him on to the floor with them. But at last the boots were removed, the master properly undressed, and after tossing about for a while on the bed, which creaked unmercifully, he fell asleep, fully convinced that he was a landowner in the Khersonese. But in the meanwhile Petrushka had carried his trousers and his cranberry-coloured coat into the corridor, and, hanging them up, he began to beat and brush them so that the dust flew all over the place. As he was preparing to take them down again he glanced outside and perceived Selifan just coming from the stable. Their glances met, and they understood each other by instinct: the master had fallen asleep, so that they could take a little run on their own account. Carrying the coat and trousers into the room, Petrushka immediately went downstairs; and they both set off without uttering a single word to each other as to the object of their expedition, but chatting on the way of a totally different subject. Their walk was not a long one, however; they only went just across the street to a building which stood opposite the inn. Here they entered a cellar-like room, where people of all sorts were seated at wooden tables—men with shaven and unshaven chins; men in sheepskin coats, and men in nothing but shirts; with one fellow who wore a frieze cloak. What Selifan and Petrushka did there, God only knows; but they came out an hour later, arm-in-arm, in utter silence, showing each other great attention, and mutually preventing each other from falling. Hand in hand, and without ever releasing their hold on each other, they fumbled about on the staircase for a quarter of an hour, then mounted, and reached their master’s rooms. Petrushka halted for a moment before his lowly bed, meditating how he could lie down upon it in the most genteel manner, and then he stretched himself directly across it, so that his feet rested on the floor. Selifan lay down on the same bed, placing his head on Petrushka’s stomach, forgetting that he ought not to have slept there at all, but in the servants’ quarters, or in the stable near the horses. Both fell asleep at the same instant, raising a snore of incredible loudness, to which their master replied from the other room with a thin, nasal whistle. Soon after this all sank into silence, and the inn was wrapt in impenetrable slumber. In one small window alone was there still a light visible; it was the window of a room occupied by some cornet or other, who had come from Ryazan, and who was evidently very fond of boots, for since his arrival he had already ordered four pairs, and was now trying on a fifth one. Several times he approached his bed with the intention of throwing them off and lying down, but he could by no means bring himself to do so. The boots were really very well made; and for a long time he still kept lifting up his feet and gazing with admiration at the high and wonderfully formed heels.