ught. "The man speaks floridly," he reflected, "yet his
words contain a certain element of truth." After a moment's silence he
added to Platon: "I am beginning to think that the tour might help you
to bestir yourself. At present you are in a condition of mental slumber.
You have fallen asleep, not so much from weariness or satiety, as
through a lack of vivid perceptions and impressions. For myself, I am
your complete antithesis. I should be only too glad if I could feel less
acutely, if I could take things less to heart."

"Emotion has become a disease with you," said Platon. "You seek your own
troubles, and make your own anxieties."

"How can you say that when ready-made anxieties greet one at every
step?" exclaimed Vassili. "For example, have you heard of the trick
which Lienitsin has just played us--of his seizing the piece of vacant
land whither our peasants resort for their sports? That piece I would
not sell for all the money in the world. It has long been our peasants'
play-ground, and all the traditions of our village are bound up with it.
Moreover, for me, old custom is a sacred thing for which I would gladly
sacrifice everything else."

"Lienitsin cannot have known of this, or he would not have seized the
land," said Platon. "He is a newcomer, just arrived from St. Petersburg.
A few words of explanation ought to meet the case."

"But he DOES know of what I have stated; he DOES know of it. Purposely
I sent him word to that affect, yet he has returned me the rudest of
answers."

"Then go yourself and explain matters to him."

"No, I will not do that; he has tried to carry off things with too high
a hand. But YOU can go if you like."

"I would certainly go were it not that I scarcely like to interfere.
Also, I am a man whom he could easily hoodwink and outwit."

"Would it help you if _I_ were to go?" put in Chichikov. "Pray enlighten
me as to the matter."

Vassili glanced at the speaker, and thought to himself: "What a passion
the man has for travelling!"

"Yes, pray give me an idea of the kind of fellow," repeated Chichikov,
"and also outline to me the affair."

"I should be ashamed to trouble you with such an unpleasant commission,"
replied Vassili. "He is a man whom I take to be an utter rascal.
Originally a member of a family of plain dvoriane in this province, he
entered the Civil Service in St. Petersburg, then married some one's
natural daughter in that city, and has returned to lord it with a