In short, the patience which he displayed was such as to make the wooden persistency of the German--a persistency merely due to the slow, lethargic circulation of the Teuton's blood--seem nothing at all, seeing that by nature Chichikov's blood flowed strongly, and that he had to employ much force of will to curb within himself those elements which longed to burst forth and revel in freedom.

He thought things over, and, as he did so, a certain spice of reason appeared in his reflections.
"How have I come to be what I am ?" he said to himself.

"Why has misfortune overtaken me in this way?
Never have I wronged a poor person, or robbed a widow, or turned any one out of doors: I have always been careful only to take advantage of those who possess more than their share.

Moreover, I have never gleaned anywhere but where every one else was gleaning; and, had I not done so, others would have gleaned in my place.

Why, then, should those others be prospering, and I be sunk as low as a worm?
What am I?
What am I good for?
How can I, in future, hope to look any honest father of a family in the face?
How shall I escape being tortured with the thought that I am cumbering the ground?
What, in the years to come, will my children say, save that 'our father was a brute, for he left us nothing to live upon ?'" Here I may remark that we have seen how much thought Chichikov devoted to his future descendants.