he, by the irresistible law of reflection exhibits some sort of a smile, although this smile may resemble the expression on the face of a man who is on the point of sneezing after a pinch of strong snuff.

Our hero replied to each and all, and was conscious of his unusual skill: he bowed to right and to left, somewhat on one side, according to his custom, but with perfect ease, so that he enchanted everyone. The ladies immediately surrounded him in a glittering garland, and brought with them a perfect cloud of every sort of perfume: one breathed forth roses, another smelt of spring and violets, a third was thoroughly permeated with mignonette. Tchitchikoff simply raised his nose in the air, and sniffed. There was a great variety of taste exhibited in the ladies’ costumes: their muslins and satins were of such pale, fashionable colours, that it is impossible to put names to them; bands of ribbon, and bouquets of flowers, fluttered here and there on the dresses, in the most picturesque disorder, although many a very orderly head had laboured over this disorder; the airy head-dresses only clung on by one ear, so to speak, and seemed to say, “Ei, I shall fly away! ’tis a pity that I cannot bear my beauty away with me!” The ladies’ bodices, moreover, fitted them tightly, and presented the most vigorous and pleasing forms to the eye.

It is necessary to state, that all the ladies of N—— were rather plump; but they laced themselves so artfully, and had such agreeable ways, that their rotundity was not noticed at all. Everything about their appearance had been the subject of great thought, attention, and care: their necks and shoulders were uncovered just as much as was necessary, and not a bit more; each one exhibited her possessions up to that point where, according to her own convictions, she felt persuaded that they were fitted to enslave the men: all the rest was concealed with remarkable taste; either some adornment of ribbon, and lighter than the little puffs which are called “kisses,” encircled the neck in an ethereal way, or else little vandyked layers of thin cambric, known under the name of “modesties,” emerged from the dress behind the shoulders. These “modesties” covered certain things both behind and before which were not calculated to make a man feel unhappy, while, at the same time, they made him suspect the existence of the destroying objects. Long gloves were drawn up almost to the sleeves, but deliberately left bare the attractive portions of the arms above the elbows, many of which were of an enviable plumpness: in some cases the kid gloves had burst, while being encouraged to ascend higher. In short, it seemed as though on all of them was written, “This is not the provinces; this is the capital; this is Paris itself!” Only here and there did some head-dress, hitherto unseen upon earth, thrust itself forward, or even some feather, possibly a peacock’s, arranged quite in opposition to the fashion, and in accordance with individual taste. But this is not to be avoided; such is the nature of a provincial town; it will infallibly break out in some spot or other.

However, as Tchitchikoff stood before the ladies he wondered, “But which one of them is the writer of that letter?” And then he thrust his nose forward to look more attentively; directly before it there was an array of elbows, trimmings, sleeves, ends of ribbons, perfumed tuckers and gowns. The gallopade was being danced at a furious rate: the wife of the postmaster, the captain-ispravnik, a lady with a blue feather, a lady with a white feather, the Georgian Prince Tchipkhaikhilidzeff, an official from Petersburg, an official from Moscow, a Frenchman—Coucou—Perkhunovsky, Berebendovsky, they all had risen and joined in.

Tchitchikoff soon became utterly bewildered in his efforts to decide which of the ladies was the writer of the letter. On endeavouring to fix a penetrating glance on the women, he became aware, that, on their part, something was being expressed which sent both hope and sweet pain deep down into the heart of a poor mortal, so that he said at last, “No, it is utterly impossible to guess.” This did not, however, in any way diminish the cheerful frame of mind in which he found himself. He exchanged a few agreeable words with the ladies, in an easy and skilful manner; approached one and another with a tripping, mincing gait, as is generally done by little old dandies on their high heels, which are called “mice’s horses,” as they trip briskly among the ladies. After tripping to right and left with skilful turns, he gave a scrape of the foot in the shape of a short tail, or a comma. The ladies were greatly pleased, and not only discovered in him a large number of amiable and agreeable qualities, but began to perceive a noble expression on his countenance—something martial and warlike—which, as it is well known, is extremely pleasing to women. They even began to quarrel a little over him. On perceiving that he tarried near the door, some