Ivan Dovgotchkun, son of Nikifor, noble of the Mirgorod
district, has set his hand."

As soon as the secretary had finished reading, Ivan Nikiforovitch seized
his hat and bowed, with the intention of departing.

"Where are you going, Ivan Nikiforovitch?" the judge called after him.
"Sit down a little while. Have some tea. Orishko, why are you standing
there, you stupid girl, winking at the clerks? Go, bring tea."

But Ivan Nikiforovitch, in terror at having got so far from home, and at
having undergone such a fearful quarantine, made haste to crawl through
the door, saying, "Don't trouble yourself. It is with pleasure that I--"
and closed it after him, leaving all present stupefied.

There was nothing to be done. Both plaints were entered; and the affair
promised to assume a sufficiently serious aspect when an unforeseen
occurrence lent an added interest to it. As the judge was leaving the
court in company with the clerk and secretary, and the employees were
thrusting into sacks the fowls, eggs, loaves, pies, cracknels, and other
odds and ends brought by the plaintiffs--just at that moment a brown sow
rushed into the room and snatched, to the amazement of the spectators,
neither a pie nor a crust of bread but Ivan Nikiforovitch's plaint,
which lay at the end of the table with its leaves hanging over. Having
seized the document, mistress sow ran off so briskly that not one of
the clerks or officials could catch her, in spite of the rulers and
ink-bottles they hurled after her.

This extraordinary occurrence produced a terrible muddle, for there had
not even been a copy taken of the plaint. The judge, that is to say,
his secretary and the assistant debated for a long time upon such an
unheard-of affair. Finally it was decided to write a report of the
matter to the governor, as the investigation of the matter pertained
more to the department of the city police. Report No. 389 was despatched
to him that same day; and also upon that day there came to light a
sufficiently curious explanation, which the reader may learn from the
following chapter.

CHAPTER V

IN WHICH ARE DETAILED THE DELIBERATIONS OF TWO IMPORTANT PERSONAGES OF
MIRGOROD

As soon as Ivan Ivanovitch had arranged his domestic affairs and stepped
out upon the balcony, according to his custom, to lie down, he saw, to
his indescribable amazement, something red at the gate. This was the red
facings of the chief of police's coat, which were polished equa