Page:Dead Souls - A Poem by Nikolay Gogol - vol1.djvu/228

216 The eye was not impressed with the high degree of cleanliness either of the corridor or of the rooms. At that time they did not trouble about it, and what was dirty remained dirty, and no attempt was made at external charm. Themis received her visitors, just as she was, in negligée and dressing-gown. The offices through which our heroes passed ought to be described, but our author cherishes the deepest awe for all such places. If he has chanced to pass through them even when they were in their most brilliant and dignified aspect with polished floors and tables, he has tried to hasten through them as quickly as he could, with bowed head and eyes meekly cast down, and so he has not the slightest idea how flourishing and prosperous it all looked.

Our hero saw a vast amount of paper, rough drafts and fair copies, bent heads, thick necks, dress coats, frock coats of provincial cut, even a light grey jacket which stood out conspicuously among the others, and of which the wearer with his head on one side and almost touching the paper, was writing in a bold and flourishing hand a report on a successful lawsuit concerning misappropriation of land or the inventory of an estate, of which a peaceable country gentleman had taken possession, and on which he had spent his life, maintained himself, his children and his grandchildren while the lawsuit went on over his head: and brief phrases uttered in a husky voice were audible by snatches: 'Oblige me with case No. 368, Fedosey Fedoseyitch!' 'You always carry