of the _gens-d'armes_ is a 'good
fellow.' The nobility-marshal a great sportsman. Besides the government
and the local officers, there live in a government town stingy
landowners, or those who have squandered away their property; they
gamble from evening to morning, nay, from morning to evening too,
without getting the least bit tired of their exercise."

"Now, about their mode of living?" asked Ivan Vassilievitsch.

"The mode of living is a very dull one. At exchange of ceremonious
visits. Intrigues, cards--cards, intrigues. Now and then, perchance, you
may meet with a kind, hospitable family, but such a case is very rare;
you much oftener find a ludicrous affectation to imitate the manners of
an imaginary high life. There are no public amusements in a government
town. During winter a series of balls are announced to take place at the
Assembly-rooms; however from an absurd primness, these balls are little
frequented, because no one wants to be the first in the room. The '_bon
genre_' remains at home and plays whist. In general, I have remarked,
that on arriving in a government town, it seems as if you were too early
or too late for some extraordinary event. You are ever welcomed: 'What a
pity you were not here yesterday!' or, 'You should stay here till
to-morrow.'"

In process of time Ivan Vassilievitsch and his good-natured fat
companion, Vassily Ivanovitsch, reach a borough town, where the Tarantas
breaks down. There is a tavern, and here is a description of it.

"The tavern was like any other tavern--a large wooden hut, with the
usual out-buildings. At the entrance stood an empty cart. The staircase
was crooked and shaky, and at the top of it, like a moving candelabrum,
stood a waiter with a tallow candle in his hand. To the right was the
tap-room, painted from time immemorial to imitate a grove. Tumblers,
tea-pots, decanters, three silver and a great number of pewter spoons,
adorned the shelves of a cup-board; a couple of lads in chintz shirts,
with dirty napkins over their shoulders, busied themselves at the bar.
Through an open door you saw in the next room a billiard-table, and a
hen gravely promenading upon it.

"Our travelers were conducted into the principal room of this elegant
establishment, where they found, seated round a boiling tea-urn, three
merchants--one gray-haired, one red-haired, and one dark-haired. Each of
these was armed with a steaming tumbler; each of them sipped, smacked
his lips, stro