A man of that kind is a jewel beyond price." Yet for a day, for two days--nay, even for three--the suitor would wait in vain so far as any messengers with documents were concerned.

Then he would repair to the office--to find that his business had not so much as been entered upon! Lastly, he would confront the "jewel beyond price." "Oh, pardon me, pardon me!" Chichikov would exclaim in the politest of tones as he seized and grasped the visitor's hands.

"The truth is that we have SUCH a quantity of business on hand! But the matter shall be put through to-morrow, and in the meanwhile I am most sorry about it." And with this would go the most fascinating of gestures.

Yet neither on the morrow, nor on the day following, nor on the third would documents arrive at the suitor's abode.

Upon that he would take thought as to whether something more ought not to have been done; and, sure enough, on his making inquiry, he would be informed that "something will have to be given to the copyists." "Well, there can be no harm in that," he would reply.