Page:Dead Souls - A Poem by Nikolay Gogol - vol1.djvu/303

Rh lady, but, marvellous to relate, both ladies suddenly subsided and nothing whatever followed. The lady agreeable in all respects remembered that the pattern of the new fashion was not yet in her possession, and the simply agreeable lady reflected that she had not yet succeeded in extracting any details of the affair that her bosom friend had just revealed to her, and so peace was very quickly restored. It could not be said, however, of either of the ladies that the desire to make herself disagreeable was characteristic; indeed there was nothing spiteful in their disposition, it was simply that in conversation a slight inclination to stick pins in one another sprang up of itself unconsciously. It was simply that each derived some slight gratification from slipping in a sharp word at the expense of the other, as much as to say: 'That's one for you!' 'Take that to yourself!' There are all sorts of impulses in the hearts of the feminine as well as of the masculine sex.

'The only thing I can't understand, though,' said the simply agreeable lady, 'is how Tchitchikov, a stranger in these parts, could venture to attempt such an audacious proceeding. There surely must be others implicated in the affair.'

'Why, did you suppose there were not?'

'Why, who do you think can be assisting him?'

'Well, Nozdryov anyway.'

'Nozdryov! really?'

'Why, it is just in his line. You know that he tried to sell his own father, or worse still, staked him at cards.'