imagine," "relatively speaking," "for instance,"
and "et cetera"; of which phrases he would add sackfuls to his
speech. He could also "embellish" his words by the simple expedient of
half-closing, half-winking one eye; which trick communicated to some of
his satirical utterances quite a mordant effect. Nor were his colleagues
a wit inferior to him in enlightenment. For instance, one of them made
a regular practice of reading Karamzin, another of conning the Moscow
Gazette, and a third of never looking at a book at all. Likewise,
although they were the sort of men to whom, in their more intimate
movements, their wives would very naturally address such nicknames
as "Toby Jug," "Marmot," "Fatty," "Pot Belly," "Smutty," "Kiki," and
"Buzz-Buzz," they were men also of good heart, and very ready to extend
their hospitality and their friendship when once a guest had eaten
of their bread and salt, or spent an evening in their company.
Particularly, therefore, did Chichikov earn these good folk's approval
with his taking methods and qualities--so much so that the expression
of that approval bid fair to make it difficult for him to quit the town,
seeing that, wherever he went, the one phrase dinned into his ears was
"Stay another week with us, Paul Ivanovitch." In short, he ceased to
be a free agent. But incomparably more striking was the impression
(a matter for unbounded surprise!) which he produced upon the ladies.
Properly to explain this phenomenon I should need to say a great deal
about the ladies themselves, and to describe in the most vivid of
colours their social intercourse and spiritual qualities. Yet this would
be a difficult thing for me to do, since, on the one hand, I should be
hampered by my boundless respect for the womenfolk of all Civil
Service officials, and, on the other hand--well, simply by the innate
arduousness of the task. The ladies of N. were--But no, I cannot do
it; my heart has already failed me. Come, come! The ladies of N. were
distinguished for--But it is of no use; somehow my pen seems to refuse
to move over the paper--it seems to be weighted as with a plummet
of lead. Very well. That being so, I will merely say a word or
two concerning the most prominent tints on the feminine palette of
N.--merely a word or two concerning the outward appearance of
its ladies, and a word or two concerning their more superficial
characteristics. The ladies of N. were pre-eminently what is known as
"presentable." Ind