Then she added: "What do you want with him ?" "I have some business to do," said Chichikov.
"Then pray walk into the house," the woman advised.

Then she turned upon him a back that was smeared with flour and had a long slit in the lower portion of its covering.

Entering a large, dark hall which reeked like a tomb, he passed into an equally dark parlour that was lighted only by such rays as contrived to filter through a crack under the door.

When Chichikov opened the door in question, the spectacle of the untidiness within struck him almost with amazement.

It would seem that the floor was never washed, and that the room was used as a receptacle for every conceivable kind of furniture.