hat domestic service was not a
specialised calling, but one to which any one might contribute a hand,
and therefore one which did not require special menials to be kept for
the purpose. Moreover, he held that the average Russian peasant remains
active and willing (rather than lazy) only so long as he wears a shirt
and a peasant's smock; but that as soon as ever he finds himself
put into a German tailcoat, he becomes awkward, sluggish, indolent,
disinclined to change his vest or take a bath, fond of sleeping in his
clothes, and certain to breed fleas and bugs under the German apparel.
And it may be that Vassili was right. At all events, the brothers'
peasantry were exceedingly well clad--the women, in particular, having
their head-dresses spangled with gold, and the sleeves of their blouses
embroidered after the fashion of a Turkish shawl.

"You see here the species of kvass for which our house has long been
famous," said Vassili to Chichikov. The latter poured himself out a
glassful from the first decanter which he lighted upon, and found
the contents to be linden honey of a kind never tasted by him even in
Poland, seeing that it had a sparkle like that of champagne, and also an
effervescence which sent a pleasant spray from the mouth into the nose.

"Nectar!" he proclaimed. Then he took some from a second decanter. It
proved to be even better than the first. "A beverage of beverages!" he
exclaimed. "At your respected brother-in-law's I tasted the finest
syrup which has ever come my way, but here I have tasted the very finest
kvass."

"Yet the recipe for the syrup also came from here," said Vassili,
"seeing that my sister took it with her. By the way, to what part of the
country, and to what places, are you thinking of travelling?"

"To tell the truth," replied Chichikov, rocking himself to and fro on
the bench, and smoothing his knee with his hand, and gently inclining
his head, "I am travelling less on my own affairs than on the affairs of
others. That is to say, General Betristchev, an intimate friend, and,
I might add, a generous benefactor of mine, has charged me with
commissions to some of his relatives. Nevertheless, though relatives are
relatives, I may say that I am travelling on my own account as well, in
that, in addition to possible benefit to my health, I desire to see the
world and the whirligig of humanity, which constitute, to so speak, a
living book, a second course of education."

Vassili took tho