ust be dated, I suppose, the
expression of mental confusion which his face habitually wore.

The first thing that roused his indignation was the conduct of his
fellow-servants. Nearly all the unmarried ones seemed to be suddenly
attacked by a peculiar matrimonial mania. The reason of this was that
the new law expressly gave permission to the emancipated serfs to marry
as they chose without the consent of their masters, and nearly all the
unmarried adults hastened to take advantage of their newly-acquired
privilege, though many of them had great difficulty in raising the
capital necessary to pay the priest's fees. Then came disorders among
the peasantry, the death of the old master, and the removal of the
family first to St. Petersburg, and afterwards to Germany. Anton's mind
had never been of a very powerful order, and these great events had
exercised a deleterious influence upon it. When Karl Karl'itch, at the
expiry of the two years, informed him that he might now go where he
chose, he replied, with a look of blank, unfeigned astonishment, "Where
can I go to?" He had never conceived the possibility of being forced
to earn his bread in some new way, and begged Karl Karl'itch to let him
remain where he was. This request was readily granted, for Anton was an
honest, faithful servant, and sincerely attached to the family, and it
was accordingly arranged that he should receive a small monthly salary,
and occupy an intermediate position between those of major-domo and head
watch-dog.

Had Anton been transformed into a real watch-dog he could scarcely have
slept more than he did. His power of sleeping, and his somnolence when
he imagined he was awake, were his two most prominent characteristics.
Out of consideration for his years and his love of repose, I troubled
him as little as possible; but even the small amount of service which
I demanded he contrived to curtail in an ingenious way. The time and
exertion required for traversing the intervening space between his
own room and mine might, he thought, be more profitably employed; and
accordingly he extemporised a bed in a small ante-chamber, close to
my door, and took up there his permanent abode. If sonorous snoring be
sufficient proof that the performer is asleep, then I must conclude that
Anton devoted about three-fourths of his time to sleeping and a
large part of the remaining fourth to yawning and elongated guttural
ejaculations. At first this little arrangement cons