nk of it.

DOBCHINSKY. I didn't say a thing, not a thing.

ARTEMY. Of course you did.

LUKA. Certainly. You came running here from the inn like madmen. "He's
come, he's come. He doesn't pay." Found a rare bird!

GOVERNOR. Of course it was you. Town gossips, damned liars!

ARTEMY. The devil take you with your inspector-general and your tattle.

GOVERNOR. You run about the city, bother everybody, confounded
chatterboxes. You spread gossip, you short-tailed magpies, you!

AMMOS. Damned bunglers!

LUKA. Simpletons.

ARTEMY. Pot-bellied mushrooms!

All crowd around them.

BOBCHINSKY. Upon my word, it wasn't I. It was Piotr Ivanovich.

DOBCHINSKY. No, Piotr Ivanovich, you were the first.

BOBCHINSKY. No, no. You were the first.

LAST SCENE

The same and a Gendarme.

GENDARME. An official from St. Petersburg sent by imperial order has
arrived, and wants to see you all at once. He is stopping at the inn.

All are struck as by a thunderbolt. A cry of amazement bursts from the
ladies simultaneously. The whole group suddenly shifts positions and
remains standing as if petrified.

SILENT SCENE

The Governor stands in the center rigid as a post, with outstretched
hands and head thrown backward. On his right are his wife and daughter
straining toward him. Back of them the Postmaster, turned toward the
audience, metamorphosed into a question mark. Next to him, at the edge
of the group, three lady guests leaning on each other, with a most
satirical expression on their faces directed straight at the Governor's
family. To the left of the Governor is Zemlianika, his head to one side
as if listening. Behind him is the Judge with outspread hands almost
crouching on the ground and pursing his lips as if to whistle or say:
"A nice pickle we're in!" Next to him is Korobkin, turned toward the
audience, with eyes screwed up and making a venomous gesture at the
Governor. Next to him, at the edge of the group, are Dobchinsky and
Bobchinsky, gesticulating at each other, open-mouthed and wide-eyed.
The other guests remain standing stiff. The whole group retain the same
position of rigidity for almost a minute and a half. The curtain falls.

THE END

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Inspector-General, by Nicolay Gogol

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