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They are bought by some rascal of a cook whom a Frenchman has taught how to skin a tomcat and then serve it up as hare." "Ugh! What horrible things you say!" put in Madame. "Well, my dear, that is how things are done, and it is no fault of mine that it is so. "Always at table you begin talking like this!" objected his helpmeet. "And why not?" said Sobakevitch.
"Ah, yes; you have always had good health, have you not?" put in the President. "Your late father was equally strong." "Yes, he even went out bear hunting alone," replied Sobakevitch. "I should think that you too could worst a bear if you were to try a tussle with him," rejoined the President. "Oh no," said Sobakevitch. "My father was a stronger man than I am."
Having broken the seal, he exclaimed: "Why, it is from Plushkin! To think that HE is still alive! What a strange world it is! He used to be such a nice fellow, and now " "And now he is a cur," concluded Sobakevitch, "as well as a miser who starves his serfs to death." "Allow me a moment," said the President. Then he read the letter through.
In my opinion that round, heavy summer-house on its clumsy columns, which combined the romantic charm of an old tomb with the ungainliness of a Sobakevitch,* was the most poetical nook in the whole town. It stood at the edge above the cliff, and from it there was a splendid view of the sea. *A character in Gogol's Dead Souls. "I sat down on the seat, and, bending over the parapet, looked down.
Then with a sigh the speaker added: "But nowadays there are no such men as he. What is even a life like mine worth?" "Then you do not have a comfortable time of it?" exclaimed the President. "No; far from it," rejoined Sobakevitch, shaking his head. "Judge for yourself, Ivan Grigorievitch. I am fifty years old, yet never in my life had been ill, except for an occasional carbuncle or boil.
For instance, Sobakevitch, disdaining lesser trifles, tackled the large sturgeon, and, during the time that his fellow guests were eating minor comestibles, and drinking and talking, contrived to consume more than a quarter of the whole fish; so that, on the host remembering the creature, and, with fork in hand, leading the way in its direction and saying, "What, gentlemen, think you of this striking product of nature?" there ensued the discovery that of the said product of nature there remained little beyond the tail, while Sobakevitch, with an air as though at least HE had not eaten it, was engaged in plunging his fork into a much more diminutive piece of fish which happened to be resting on an adjacent platter.
We had a very pleasant evening." "Yes, on that occasion I was not there," replied Sobakevitch. "What a nice man he is!" "Who is?" inquired Sobakevitch, gazing into the corner by the stove. "The President of the Local Council." "Did he seem so to you? True, he is a mason, but he is also the greatest fool that the world ever saw."
Meanwhile Sobakevitch sat with his head drooping. Nevertheless, said Chichikov, the general equity of this measure did not obviate a certain amount of annoyance to landowners, since it forced them to pay upon a non-living article the tax due upon a living. Meanwhile Sobakevitch listened with bent head; though something like a trace of expression dawned in his face as he did so.
As soon as the two friends had entered the hall of the Presence they perceived that the President was NOT alone, but, on the contrary, had seated by his side Sobakevitch, whose form had hitherto been concealed by the intervening mirror.
After his divorce from the sturgeon, Sobakevitch ate and drank no more, but sat frowning and blinking in an armchair. Apparently the host was not a man who believed in sparing the wine, for the toasts drunk were innumerable.
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