FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175  
176   177   178   179   180   181   182   183   184   185   186   187   188   189   190   191   192   193   194   195   196   197   198   199   200   >>   >|  
nt personage. The prominent personage was in his cabinet conversing gaily with an old acquaintance and companion of his childhood whom he had not seen for several years and who had just arrived when it was announced to him that a person named Bashmatchkin had come. He asked abruptly, "Who is he?"--"Some official," he was informed. "Ah, he can wait! this is no time for him to call," said the important man. It must be remarked here that the important man lied outrageously: he had said all he had to say to his friend long before; and the conversation had been interspersed for some time with very long pauses, during which they merely slapped each other on the leg, and said, "You think so, Ivan Abramovitch!" "Just so, Stepan Varlamitch!" Nevertheless, he ordered that the official should be kept waiting, in order to show his friend, a man who had not been in the service for a long time, but had lived at home in the country, how long officials had to wait in his ante-room. At length, having talked himself completely out, and more than that, having had his fill of pauses, and smoked a cigar in a very comfortable arm-chair with reclining back, he suddenly seemed to recollect, and said to the secretary, who stood by the door with papers of reports, "So it seems that there is a tchinovnik waiting to see me. Tell him that he may come in." On perceiving Akakiy Akakievitch's modest mien and his worn undress uniform, he turned abruptly to him and said, "What do you want?" in a curt hard voice, which he had practised in his room in private, and before the looking-glass, for a whole week before being raised to his present rank. Akakiy Akakievitch, who was already imbued with a due amount of fear, became somewhat confused: and as well as his tongue would permit, explained, with a rather more frequent addition than usual of the word "that," that his cloak was quite new, and had been stolen in the most inhuman manner; that he had applied to him in order that he might, in some way, by his intermediation--that he might enter into correspondence with the chief of police, and find the cloak. For some inexplicable reason this conduct seemed familiar to the prominent personage. "What, my dear sir!" he said abruptly, "are you not acquainted with etiquette? Where have you come from? Don't you know how such matters are managed? You should first have entered a complaint about this at the court below: it would have gone to the head of the dep
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175  
176   177   178   179   180   181   182   183   184   185   186   187   188   189   190   191   192   193   194   195   196   197   198   199   200   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
abruptly
 
personage
 
prominent
 

official

 
important
 

pauses

 
waiting
 
Akakievitch
 

Akakiy

 

friend


confused

 
amount
 

imbued

 

uniform

 

undress

 
turned
 

perceiving

 

modest

 

raised

 

practised


private

 

present

 

conduct

 

reason

 

familiar

 

entered

 

inexplicable

 

complaint

 
matters
 
managed

acquainted

 
etiquette
 

stolen

 

addition

 

permit

 

explained

 

frequent

 

inhuman

 

manner

 

correspondence


police

 
intermediation
 

applied

 

tongue

 

remarked

 
informed
 
slapped
 

interspersed

 

outrageously

 
conversation