Of course, when he reviewed the contretemps in the light of pure reason, he could not but see that it mattered nothing, and that a few rude words were of no account now that the chief point had been attained; yet man is an odd creature, and Chichikov actually felt pained by the could-shouldering administered to him by persons for whom he had not an atom of respect, and whose vanity and love of display he had only that moment been censuring.

Still more, on viewing the matter clearly, he felt vexed to think that he himself had been so largely the cause of the catastrophe.
Yet he was not angry with HIMSELF--of that you may be sure, seeing that all of us have a slight weakness for sparing our own faults, and always do our best to find some fellow-creature upon whom to vent our displeasure--whether that fellow-creature be a servant, a subordinate official, or a wife.

In the same way Chichikov sought a scapegoat upon whose shoulders he could lay the blame for all that had annoyed him.

He found one in Nozdrev, and you may be sure that the scapegoat in question received a good drubbing from every side, even as an experienced captain or chief of police will give a knavish starosta or postboy a rating not only in the terms become classical, but also in such terms as the said captain or chief of police may invent for himself.

In short, Nozdrev's whole lineage was passed in review; and many of its members in the ascending line fared badly in the process.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the town there was in progress an event which was destined to augment still further the unpleasantness of our hero's position.