y to relieve
the monotony of garrison life by boisterous dissipation, and among these
he easily acquired the reputation of being a thoroughly good fellow. In
drinking bouts he could hold his own with the best of them, and in all
mad pranks invariably played the chief part. By this means he endeared
himself to his comrades, and for a time all went well. The colonel had
himself sown wild oats plentifully in his youth, and was quite disposed
to overlook, as far as possible, the bacchanalian peccadilloes of his
subordinates. But before many years had passed, the regiment suddenly
changed its character. Certain rumours had reached headquarters, and the
Emperor Nicholas appointed as colonel a stern disciplinarian of German
origin, who aimed at making the regiment a kind of machine that should
work with the accuracy of a chronometer.

This change did not at all suit the tastes of Dimitri Ivan'itch. He
chafed under the new restraints, and as soon as he had gained the rank
of lieutenant retired from the service to enjoy the freedom of country
life. Shortly afterwards his father died, and he thereby became owner of
an estate, with two hundred serfs. He did not, like his elder brother,
marry, and "effeminate himself," but he did worse. In his little
independent kingdom--for such was practically a Russian estate in the
good old times--he was lord of all he surveyed, and gave full scope to
his boisterous humour, his passion for sport, and his love of drinking
and dissipation. Many of the mad pranks in which he indulged will long
be preserved by popular tradition, but they cannot well be related here.

Dimitri Ivan'itch is now a man long past middle age, and still continues
his wild, dissipated life. His house resembles an ill-kept, disreputable
tavern. The floor is filthy, the furniture chipped and broken, the
servants indolent, slovenly, and in rags. Dogs of all breeds and sizes
roam about the rooms and corridors. The master, when not asleep, is
always in a more or less complete state of intoxication. Generally
he has one or two guests staying with him--men of the same type as
himself--and days and nights are spent in drinking and card-playing.
When he cannot have his usual boon-companions he sends for one or two
small proprietors who live near--men who are legally nobles, but who are
so poor that they differ little from peasants. Formerly, when ordinary
resources failed, he occasionally had recourse to the violent expedient
of or