Page:Dead Souls - A Poem by Nikolay Gogol - vol2.djvu/104

94 What sort of man was Andrey Ivanovitch Tyentyetnikov, what was his disposition, what were his qualities and his character?

We ought, of course, to inquire of his neighbours. A neighbour who belonged to the class of retired officers, old martinets, summed him up in the laconic expression, 'A regular beast.' A general, living some eight miles away, said: 'The young man is not a fool, but he has too many notions in his head. I might have been of use to him because I have in Petersburg even …' The general did not finish his observation. The police-captain remarked: 'Why, his rank in the service is wretched, contemptible; and I have to go to him to-morrow for arrears of taxes!' If a peasant in the village was asked what his master was like, he made no answer. In fact the general opinion of him was rather unfavourable than favourable.

Yet Andrey Ivanovitch was neither good nor bad in his life and actions—he simply vegetated. Since there are not a few people in this world who do vegetate, why should not Tyentyetnikov vegetate?

Here, however, in a few words is a full chronicle of his day, and from it the reader may judge for himself of his character.

He woke up very late in the morning and would sit for a long time on his bed, rubbing his eyes. His eyes were unfortunately rather small and so the rubbing of them lasted a long time. All