though that was an
aspect which Chichikov little regarded.

"I have made up my mind to go touring our Holy Russia with Paul
Ivanovitch," said Platon. "Perhaps it will rid me of my melancholy."

"What has made you come to such a sudden decision?" asked the perplexed
Vassili (very nearly he added: "Fancy going travelling with a man whose
acquaintance you have just made, and who may turn out to be a rascal
or the devil knows what!" But, in spite of his distrust, he contented
himself with another covert scrutiny of Chichikov, and this time came to
the conclusion that there was no fault to be found with his exterior).

The party turned to the right, and entered the gates of an ancient
courtyard attached to an old-fashioned house of a type no longer
built--the type which has huge gables supporting a high-pitched roof.
In the centre of the courtyard two great lime trees covered half the
surrounding space with shade, while beneath them were ranged a number
of wooden benches, and the whole was encircled with a ring of blossoming
lilacs and cherry trees which, like a beaded necklace, reinforced the
wooden fence, and almost buried it beneath their clusters of leaves and
flowers. The house, too, stood almost concealed by this greenery,
except that the front door and the windows peered pleasantly through the
foliage, and that here and there between the stems of the trees there
could be caught glimpses of the kitchen regions, the storehouses, and
the cellar. Lastly, around the whole stood a grove, from the recesses of
which came the echoing songs of nightingales.

Involuntarily the place communicated to the soul a sort of quiet,
restful feeling, so eloquently did it speak of that care-free period
when every one lived on good terms with his neighbour, and all was
simple and unsophisticated. Vassili invited Chichikov to seat himself,
and the party approached, for that purpose, the benches under the lime
trees; after which a youth of about seventeen, and clad in a red shirt,
brought decanters containing various kinds of kvass (some of them as
thick as syrup, and others hissing like aerated lemonade), deposited the
same upon the table, and, taking up a spade which he had left leaning
against a tree, moved away towards the garden. The reason of this was
that in the brothers' household, as in that of Kostanzhoglo, no servants
were kept, since the whole staff were rated as gardeners, and performed
that duty in rotation--Vassili holding t