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142 myself. Yet how the postman abused me! He would have complained to the authorities had I left the letter where it was."

"Fool!" exclaimed the lady of the house.

"And from whom can it be?" said old Oblomov meditatively as he studied the address. "Somehow I seem to know the handwriting."

Upon that the missive fell to being passed from one person to another; and much guessing and discussion began. Finally the company had to own itself nonplussed. The master of the house ordered his spectacles to be fetched, and quite an hour and a half were consumed in searching for the same; but at length he put them on, and then bethought him of opening the letter.

"Wait a moment," said his wife, hastily arresting his hand. "Do not break the seal. Who knows what the letter may contain? It may portend something dreadful, some misfortune. To what have we not come nowadays? To-morrow, or the day after, will be soon enough. The letter will not walk away of itself."

So the letter was placed under lock and key, and tea passed round. In fact, the document would have lain there for a year,