dispatch-box and the papers and money therein
practically undisturbed and intact! Later it came out that Samosvitov
had assumed complete authority in the matter. First, he had rebuked the
gendarmes guarding Chichikov's effects for lack of vigilance, and then
sent word to the Superintendent that additional men were required for
the purpose; after which he had taken the dispatch-box into his own
charge, removed from it every paper which could possibly compromise
Chichikov, sealed up the rest in a packet, and ordered a gendarme to
convey the whole to their owner on the pretence of forwarding him sundry
garments necessary for the night. In the result Chichikov received not
only his papers, but also some warm clothing for his hypersensitive
limbs. Such a swift recovery of his treasures delighted him beyond
expression, and, gathering new hope, he began once more to dream of such
allurements as theatre-going and the ballet girl after whom he had for
some time past been dangling. Gradually did the country estate and the
simple life begin to recede into the distance: gradually did the town
house and the life of gaiety begin to loom larger and larger in the
foreground. Oh, life, life!

Meanwhile in Government offices and chancellories there had been set
on foot a boundless volume of work. Clerical pens slaved, and brains
skilled in legal casus toiled; for each official had the artist's liking
for the curved line in preference to the straight. And all the while,
like a hidden magician, Chichikov's lawyer imparted driving power to
that machine which caught up a man into its mechanism before he could
even look round. And the complexity of it increased and increased, for
Samosvitov surpassed himself in importance and daring. On learning
of the place of confinement of the woman who had been arrested, he
presented himself at the doors, and passed so well for a smart young
officer of gendarmery that the sentry saluted and sprang to attention.

"Have you been on duty long?" asked Samosvitov.

"Since this morning, your Excellency."

"And shall you soon be relieved?"

"In three hours from now, your Excellency."

"Presently I shall want you, so I will instruct your officer to have you
relieved at once."

"Very good, your Excellency."

Hastening home, thereafter, at top speed, and donning the uniform of
a gendarme, with a false moustache and a pair of false whiskers--an
ensemble in which the devil himself would not have known him,