“I think that he is humbugging us.”

“Oh! indeed!”

“That is putting it mildly, for in reality he has his eye on the marshal’s office. He marshal! Imagine anyone with that pig’s snout as marshal!”

“He is ambitious, is he not?” asked Podgruzdyoff.

“A man may have a weakness; but the idea of Zazhmurin, with that phiz of his, thinking of representing the nobility! And even as a judge, what is he? To speak the plain truth, the nobility made a mistake in choosing him; for, after all, what is there more noble and sacred than to decide the fate of others? By the way, this office has been proposed to me, but I really dare not accept it. I have so much affection for our aristocracy, that I feel sure that every nobleman would always be in the right in my eyes, and the common people always in the wrong. With such a method, I should soon be involved in a criminal suit. But what is to be done? I am of opinion that one should always comply with the petition of a nobleman. Yes; I will do everything for the nobility.”

“You will do. So you have come to a decision?”

“Oh, yes. I offer myself as a candidate, for the mere sake of overthrowing that Zazhmurin. I know, that if he sees that he has but few chances of being elected marshal, he will cling to his place of judge. He is a very crafty fellow.”

“You are very intimate together, yet just see how you talk about him!”

“Intimate—intimate as one can be with him. He would like me to be a grain of salt, and hold out a spoonful of cool water to me; but no, I shan’t wait for a bath.”

“Ah!”

The marshal and the captain-ispravnik now passed into the drawing-room, where the conversation had turned from the elections to very different and rather risky subjects. As for the elections, each person kept his thoughts to himself. Equipages could be seen driving up outside, and for the most part entering the courtyard. The sound of the laughter and chatting of the new arrivals became audible, first at the foot of the stairs, and then in the ante-chamber. Several members of the local nobility entered. Their names were Hamyazoff, Morkatinoff, Shtchavarin, Sosikoff, and Kornikin. They saluted the assembly, and went to shake hands with Podgruzdyoff, who was quietly sitting on a sofa, with a cigar in his mouth. Hamyazoff and the brothers Morkatinoff had just come from a dinner at the house of the civil governor.

“If I had only known,” said Hamyazoff, puffing out his cheeks, “I shouldn’t have brought any wines, any cook, or any cooking utensils up from the country. This is an extremely hospitable town. I have only been here three days, and yet I have already taken part in seven dinners; I feel horribly afraid of acquiring a big belly. So, pardon and mercy, Stepan Stepanovitch! to-morrow I dine in two houses, and I am invited to breakfast in five others. I really do not know if I can come to you. My entertainers will end by making me burst.”

“Here is a gentleman who has come to the elections in order to overfeed himself, and drink from morning till night; he can talk of nothing save his great digestive capacity,” remarked a short, thin gentleman, with a complexion the colour of saffron. “All that one hears him talk about is, what he eats here, and what he will eat there; what he has drunk here, and how he became intoxicated there. Then he says that he is invited to five houses farther on; that he is now on his way to sup with some importunate count; that to-morrow morning at ten o’clock he will favour that monster of a prince with his company to breakfast. And so on; but how does he manage to lodge so much food in his body?”