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- Николай Гоголь
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- Стр. 127/232
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Naturally
this
unseemly
contretemps
had
greatly
upset
our
hero
;
for
,
however
foolish
be
a
madman
's
words
,
they
may
yet
prove
sufficient
to
sow
doubt
in
the
minds
of
saner
individuals
.
He
felt
much
as
does
a
man
who
,
shod
with
well-polished
boots
,
has
just
stepped
into
a
dirty
,
stinking
puddle
.
He
tried
to
put
away
from
him
the
occurrence
,
and
to
expand
,
and
to
enjoy
himself
once
more
.
Nay
,
he
even
took
a
hand
at
whist
.
But
all
was
of
no
avail
--
matters
kept
going
as
awry
as
a
badly-bent
hoop
.
Twice
he
blundered
in
his
play
,
and
the
President
of
the
Council
was
at
a
loss
to
understand
how
his
friend
,
Paul
Ivanovitch
,
lately
so
good
and
so
circumspect
a
player
,
could
perpetrate
such
a
mauvais
pas
as
to
throw
away
a
particular
king
of
spades
which
the
President
has
been
"
trusting
"
as
(
to
quote
his
own
expression
)
"
he
would
have
trusted
God
.
"
At
supper
,
too
,
matters
felt
uncomfortable
,
even
though
the
society
at
Chichikov
's
table
was
exceedingly
agreeable
and
Nozdrev
had
been
removed
,
owing
to
the
fact
that
the
ladies
had
found
his
conduct
too
scandalous
to
be
borne
,
now
that
the
delinquent
had
taken
to
seating
himself
on
the
floor
and
plucking
at
the
skirts
of
passing
lady
dancers
.
As
I
say
,
therefore
,
Chichikov
found
the
situation
not
a
little
awkward
,
and
eventually
put
an
end
to
it
by
leaving
the
supper
room
before
the
meal
was
over
,
and
long
before
the
hour
when
usually
he
returned
to
the
inn
.
In
his
little
room
,
with
its
door
of
communication
blocked
with
a
wardrobe
,
his
frame
of
mind
remained
as
uncomfortable
as
the
chair
in
which
he
was
seated
.
His
heart
ached
with
a
dull
,
unpleasant
sensation
,
with
a
sort
of
oppressive
emptiness
.
"
The
devil
take
those
who
first
invented
balls
!
"
was
his
reflection
.
"
Who
derives
any
real
pleasure
from
them
?
In
this
province
there
exist
want
and
scarcity
everywhere
:
yet
folk
go
in
for
balls
!
How
absurd
,
too
,
were
those
overdressed
women
!
One
of
them
must
have
had
a
thousand
roubles
on
her
back
,
and
all
acquired
at
the
expense
of
the
overtaxed
peasant
,
or
,
worse
still
,
at
that
of
the
conscience
of
her
neighbour
.
Yes
,
we
all
know
why
bribes
are
accepted
,
and
why
men
become
crooked
in
soul
.
It
is
all
done
to
provide
wives
--
yes
,
may
the
pit
swallow
them
up
!
--
with
fal-lals
.
And
for
what
purpose
?
That
some
woman
may
not
have
to
reproach
her
husband
with
the
fact
that
,
say
,
the
Postmaster
's
wife
is
wearing
a
better
dress
than
she
is
--
a
dress
which
has
cost
a
thousand
roubles
!
'
Balls
and
gaiety
,
balls
and
gaiety
'
is
the
constant
cry
.
Yet
what
folly
balls
are
!
They
do
not
consort
with
the
Russian
spirit
and
genius
,
and
the
devil
only
knows
why
we
have
them
.
A
grown
,
middle-aged
man
--
a
man
dressed
in
black
,
and
looking
as
stiff
as
a
poker
--
suddenly
takes
the
floor
and
begins
shuffling
his
feet
about
,
while
another
man
,
even
though
conversing
with
a
companion
on
important
business
,
will
,
the
while
,
keep
capering
to
right
and
left
like
a
billy-goat
!
Mimicry
,
sheer
mimicry
!
The
fact
that
the
Frenchman
is
at
forty
precisely
what
he
was
at
fifteen
leads
us
to
imagine
that
we
too
,
forsooth
,
ought
to
be
the
same
.
No
;
a
ball
leaves
one
feeling
that
one
has
done
a
wrong
thing
--
so
much
so
that
one
does
not
care
even
to
think
of
it
.
It
also
leaves
one
's
head
perfectly
empty
,
even
as
does
the
exertion
of
talking
to
a
man
of
the
world
.
A
man
of
that
kind
chatters
away
,
and
touches
lightly
upon
every
conceivable
subject
,
and
talks
in
smooth
,
fluent
phrases
which
he
has
culled
from
books
without
grazing
their
substance
;
whereas
go
and
have
a
chat
with
a
tradesman
who
knows
at
least
ONE
thing
thoroughly
,
and
through
the
medium
of
experience
,
and
see
whether
his
conversation
will
not
be
worth
more
than
the
prattle
of
a
thousand
chatterboxes
.
For
what
good
does
one
get
out
of
balls
?
Suppose
that
a
competent
writer
were
to
describe
such
a
scene
exactly
as
it
stands
?
Why
,
even
in
a
book
it
would
seem
senseless
,
even
as
it
certainly
is
in
life
.
Are
,
therefore
,
such
functions
right
or
wrong
?
One
would
answer
that
the
devil
alone
knows
,
and
then
spit
and
close
the
book
.
"
Such
were
the
unfavourable
comments
which
Chichikov
passed
upon
balls
in
general
.
With
it
all
,
however
,
there
went
a
second
source
of
dissatisfaction
.
That
is
to
say
,
his
principal
grudge
was
not
so
much
against
balls
as
against
the
fact
that
at
this
particular
one
he
had
been
exposed
,
he
had
been
made
to
disclose
the
circumstance
that
he
had
been
playing
a
strange
,
an
ambiguous
part
.
Of
course
,
when
he
reviewed
the
contretemps
in
the
light
of
pure
reason
,
he
could
not
but
see
that
it
mattered
nothing
,
and
that
a
few
rude
words
were
of
no
account
now
that
the
chief
point
had
been
attained
;
yet
man
is
an
odd
creature
,
and
Chichikov
actually
felt
pained
by
the
cold-shouldering
administered
to
him
by
persons
for
whom
he
had
not
an
atom
of
respect
,
and
whose
vanity
and
love
of
display
he
had
only
that
moment
been
censuring
.
Still
more
,
on
viewing
the
matter
clearly
,
he
felt
vexed
to
think
that
he
himself
had
been
so
largely
the
cause
of
the
catastrophe
.
Yet
he
was
not
angry
with
HIMSELF
--
of
that
you
may
be
sure
,
seeing
that
all
of
us
have
a
slight
weakness
for
sparing
our
own
faults
,
and
always
do
our
best
to
find
some
fellow-creature
upon
whom
to
vent
our
displeasure
--
whether
that
fellow-creature
be
a
servant
,
a
subordinate
official
,
or
a
wife
.
In
the
same
way
Chichikov
sought
a
scapegoat
upon
whose
shoulders
he
could
lay
the
blame
for
all
that
had
annoyed
him
.
He
found
one
in
Nozdrev
,
and
you
may
be
sure
that
the
scapegoat
in
question
received
a
good
drubbing
from
every
side
,
even
as
an
experienced
captain
or
chief
of
police
will
give
a
knavish
starosta
or
postboy
a
rating
not
only
in
the
terms
become
classical
,
but
also
in
such
terms
as
the
said
captain
or
chief
of
police
may
invent
for
himself
.
In
short
,
Nozdrev
's
whole
lineage
was
passed
in
review
;
and
many
of
its
members
in
the
ascending
line
fared
badly
in
the
process
.
Meanwhile
,
at
the
other
end
of
the
town
there
was
in
progress
an
event
which
was
destined
to
augment
still
further
the
unpleasantness
of
our
hero
's
position
.
That
is
to
say
,
through
the
outlying
streets
and
alleys
of
the
town
there
was
clattering
a
vehicle
to
which
it
would
be
difficult
precisely
to
assign
a
name
,
seeing
that
,
though
it
was
of
a
species
peculiar
to
itself
,
it
most
nearly
resembled
a
large
,
rickety
water
melon
on
wheels
.
Eventually
this
monstrosity
drew
up
at
the
gates
of
a
house
where
the
archpriest
of
one
of
the
churches
resided
,
and
from
its
doors
there
leapt
a
damsel
clad
in
a
jerkin
and
wearing
a
scarf
over
her
head
.
For
a
while
she
thumped
the
gates
so
vigorously
as
to
set
all
the
dogs
barking
;
then
the
gates
stiffly
opened
,
and
admitted
this
unwieldy
phenomenon
of
the
road
