Page:Dead Souls - A Poem by Nikolay Gogol - vol1.djvu/49

Rh of the police-master? He is a very agreeable man, is he not?'

'Extremely agreeable, and what an intelligent, well-read man! We were playing whist at his house with the public prosecutor and the president of the court till cock-crow. A most worthy man, most worthy!'

'And what did you think of the police-master's wife?' added Madame Manilov. 'A most amiable woman, isn't she?'

'Oh, she is one of the most estimable ladies I have ever known,' answered Tchitchikov.

Then they did not omit to mention the president of the court and the postmaster, and in this way ran through the names of almost all the officials in the town, who were, as it appeared, all excellent persons.

'Do you spend all your time in the country?' inquired Tchitchikov, venturing upon a question in his turn.

'Most of the time we do,' answered Manilov. 'Sometimes, however, we do visit the town simply in order to see something of cultured people. One grows too rustic if one stays shut up for ever.'

'That is true, that is true,' said Tchitchikov.

'Of course,' Manilov went on, 'it would be a different matter if we had nice neighbours, if for instance there were some one with whom one could to some extent converse on polished and refined subjects, pursue some sort of study that would stir the soul, it would give one inspiration, so to say …' He would have expressed something