Do not be surprised at his officiousness, which seems founded on the assumption that you are three-fourths paralysed.

Formerly, every well-born Russian had a valet always in attendance, and never dreamed of doing for himself anything which could by any possibility be done for him.

You notice that there is no bell in the room, and no mechanical means of communicating with the world below stairs.

That is because the attendant is supposed to be always within call, and it is so much easier to shout than to get up and ring the bell.
In the good old times all this was quite natural.

The well-born Russian had commonly a superabundance of domestic serfs, and there was no reason why one or two of them should not accompany their master when his Honour undertook a journey.