Page:Dead Souls - A Poem by Nikolay Gogol - vol2.djvu/177

Rh of their heads with astonishment. 'What have you done, you fools? You were told Colonel Koshkaryov's … and this is Pyotr Petrovitch Pyetuh!'

'The fellows have done splendidly,' said Pyotr Petrovitch. 'I'll give you each a mug of vodka for it and a fish pasty into the bargain. Take out the horses and run along at once to the servants' quarters!'

'I am really ashamed,' said Tchitchikov, bowing. 'Such an unexpected mistake.'

'Not a mistake,' Pyotr Petrovitch Pyetuh declared eagerly, 'it is not a mistake. You try what the dinner's like first and then say whether it is a mistake. Pray come in,' he said, taking Tchitchikov's arm, and leading him into the inner rooms.

Tchitchikov from politeness went in at the door sideways so as to allow the master of the house to pass in with him; but this courtesy was thrown away, the stout gentleman could not have got through the door with him, moreover he had already disappeared, he could only hear his remarks in the yard.

'Why, what's Big Foma about? Why isn't he here yet? Emelyan, you sluggard, run to booby the cook and tell him to make haste and stuff the sturgeon. Put the soft roe and the hard roe, the insides and the bream into the soup, and the crucians into the sauce. And the crayfish, the crayfish! Little Foma, you sluggard, where are the crayfish? The