Page:Dead Souls - A Poem by Nikolay Gogol - vol2.djvu/192

182 it into such a condition that now he gets two hundred thousand from it.'

'What a splendid man! The life of a man like that ought to be held up as an example to others. It will be very, very agreeable to make his acquaintance. And what's his name?'

'Skudronzhoglo.'

'And his Christian name and father's name?'

'Konstantin Fyodorovitch.'

'Konstantin Fyodorovitch Skudronzhoglo. Very agreeable to make his acquaintance. One may learn something from knowing such a man.' And Tchitchikov proceeded to ask questions about Skudronzhoglo, and everything he learned about him from Platonov was surprising indeed.

'Look,' said Platonov, pointing to the fields, 'his land begins there. You will see at once how different it is from other people's. Coachman, here you take the road to the left. Do you see that copse of young trees? They were all sown. On another man's land they wouldn't have been that height in fifty years, and they have grown up in eight. Look, there the forest ends and the cornfields begin, and in another one hundred and fifty acres there will be forest again, also raised from seed, and then cornland again. Look at the corn, how much heavier it is than anywhere else.'

'Yes, I see. But how does he do it?'

'Well, you must ask him that. There is nothing he hasn't got. He knows everything, you would never find another man like him. It