Page:Dead Souls - A Poem by Nikolay Gogol - vol2.djvu/182

172 disorder? Perhaps your crops have failed, or a great many of your serfs have died?'

'No, on the contrary, everything is in the best of order and my brother is an excellent manager.'

'I don't understand it,' said Tchitchikov, and shrugged his shoulders.

'Well, we'll drive away his boredom directly,' said their host. 'Run quickly to the kitchen, Alexasha, and tell the cook to send in the fish pies as soon as he can. But where's that sluggard Emelyan and that thief Antoshka? Why don't they bring the savouries?'

But the door opened. The sluggard Emelyan and the thief Antoshka made their appearance with table napkins, laid the table, set a tray with six decanters of various coloured home-made wines; soon round the trays and decanters there was a necklace of plates—caviare, cheese, salted mushrooms of different kinds, and something was brought in from the kitchen covered with a plate, under which could be heard the hissing of butter. The sluggard Emelyan and the thief Antoshka were quick and excellent fellows. Their master gave them those titles because to address them without nicknames seemed tame and flat, and he did not like anything to be so; he was a kind-hearted man, but liked to use words of strong flavour. His servants did not resent it, however.

The savouries were followed by dinner. The good-hearted fat gentleman showed himself now a regular ruffian. As soon as he saw one