and gazing at the floor, he looks
as if he were forming combinations of the first magnitude; but those who
know him well are aware that this is an optical delusion, of which he
is himself to some extent a victim. He is quite innocent of deep thought
and concentrated intellectual effort. Though he frowns so fiercely he is
by no means of a naturally ferocious temperament. Had he passed all
his life in the country he would probably have been as good-natured and
phlegmatic as Ivan Ivan'itch himself, but, unlike that worshipper of
tranquillity, he had aspired to rise in the service, and had adopted
the stern, formal bearing which the Emperor Nicholas considered
indispensable in an officer. The manner which he had at first put on as
part of his uniform became by the force of habit almost a part of his
nature, and at the age of thirty he was a stern disciplinarian and
uncompromising formalist, who confined his attention exclusively to
drill and other military duties. Thus he rose steadily by his own merit,
and reached the goal of his early ambition--the rank of general.

As soon as this point was reached he determined to leave the service and
retire to his property. Many considerations urged him to take this step.
He enjoyed the title of Excellency which he had long coveted, and when
he put on his full uniform his breast was bespangled with medals and
decorations. Since the death of his father the revenues of his estate
had been steadily decreasing, and report said that the best wood in his
forest was rapidly disappearing. His wife had no love for the country,
and would have preferred to settle in Moscow or St. Petersburg, but they
found that with their small income they could not live in a large town
in a style suitable to their rank.

The General determined to introduce order into his estate, and become
a practical farmer; but a little experience convinced him that his new
functions were much more difficult than the commanding of a regiment. He
has long since given over the practical management of the property to a
steward, and he contents himself with exercising what he imagines to be
an efficient control. Though he wishes to do much, he finds small scope
for his activity, and spends his days in pretty much the same way as
Ivan Ivan'itch, with this difference, that he plays cards whenever he
gets an opportunity, and reads regularly the Moscow Gazette and Russki
Invalid, the official military paper. What specially interests