air beard, slightly tinged with grey, was in part
counteracted by his eyes, which had a strange twinkle in them--whether
of humour or of roguery, it was difficult to say. Under all
circumstances--whether in his light, nondescript summer costume, or in
his warm sheep-skin, or in the long, glossy, dark-blue, double-breasted
coat which he put on occasionally on Sundays and holidays--he always
looked a well-fed, respectable, prosperous member of society; whilst
his imperturbable composure, and the entire absence of obsequiousness or
truculence in his manner, indicated plainly that he possessed no small
amount of calm, deep-rooted self-respect. A stranger, on seeing him,
might readily have leaped to the conclusion that he must be the Village
Elder, but in reality he was a simple member of the Commune, like his
neighbour, poor Zakhar Leshkof, who never let slip an opportunity of
getting drunk, was always in debt, and, on the whole, possessed a more
than dubious reputation.

Ivan had, it is true, been Village Elder some years before. When elected
by the Village Assembly, against his own wishes, he had said quietly,
"Very well, children; I will serve my three years"; and at the end of
that period, when the Assembly wished to re-elect him, he had answered
firmly, "No, children; I have served my term. It is now the turn of some
one who is younger, and has more time. There's Peter Alekseyef, a good
fellow, and an honest; you may choose him." And the Assembly chose the
peasant indicated; for Ivan, though a simple member of the Commune, had
more influence in Communal affairs than any other half-dozen members put
together. No grave matter was decided without his being consulted,
and there was at least one instance on record of the Village Assembly
postponing deliberations for a week because he happened to be absent in
St. Petersburg.

No stranger casually meeting Ivan would ever for a moment have suspected
that that big man, of calm, commanding aspect, had been during a great
part of his life a serf. And yet a serf he had been from his birth till
he was about thirty years of age--not merely a serf of the State, but
the serf of a proprietor who had lived habitually on his property. For
thirty years of his life he had been dependent on the arbitrary will of
a master who had the legal power to flog him as often and as severely
as he considered desirable. In reality he had never been subjected to
corporal punishment, for the proprietor