Page:Dead Souls - A Poem by Nikolay Gogol - vol2.djvu/179

Rh 'Why did you mortgage it?' he asked.

'Oh, no particular reason; everybody goes in for mortgaging nowadays, so why shouldn't I do the same as the rest? They tell me it's profitable. Besides I have always lived here, so I may as well try living in Moscow.'

'The fool, the fool!' thought Tchitchikov, 'he will spend everything and make his children spendthrifts too. You had better stay at home in the country, you fish pie.'

'I know what you are thinking,' said Pyetuh.

'What?' asked Tchitchikov, embarrassed.

'You are thinking, "He is a fool, he is a fool, this Pyetuh! He has invited me to dinner and there is no dinner all this time." It will soon be ready, my good sir, in less time than it takes a cropped wench to plait her hair, it will be here.'

'Father, Platon Mihailovitch is coming,' said Alexasha, looking out of the window.

'On a roan horse,' Nikolasha put in, stooping down to the window. 'Do you think it's a better horse than our grey, Alexasha?'

'Better, no, but its paces are different.'

A dispute sprung up between them about the merits of the roan and the grey. Meanwhile a handsome man of graceful figure, with fair shining curls and dark eyes, walked into the room. A ferocious-looking dog with powerful jaws came in behind him, jingling its copper collar.

'Have you dined?' asked the fat man.

'Yes, I have,' said the visitor.