Dead Souls

"For shame, for shame, dearie! simply for shame! Think what you are saying! Who is going to buy them? What use could they possibly be to anyone?"

"Maybe they'd somehow come in handy around the house on occasion . . . ," the old woman objected and, not finishing what she was saying, opened her mouth and looked at him almost in fear, wishing to know what he would say to that.

"Dead people around the house! Eh, that's going a bit far! Maybe just to frighten sparrows in your kitchen garden at night or something?"

"Saints preserve us! What horrors you come out with!" the old woman said, crossing herself.

"Where else would you like to stick them? No, anyhow, the bones and graves—all that stays with you, the transfer is only on paper. So, what do you say? How about it? Answer me at least."

The old woman again fell to thinking.

"What are you thinking about, Nastasya Petrovna?"

"Really, I still can't settle on what to do; I'd better sell you the hemp."

"What's all this hemp? For pity's sake, I ask you about something totally different, and you shove your hemp at me! Hemp's hemp, the next time I come, I'll take the hemp as well. So, how about it, Nastasya Petrovna?"

"By God, it's such queer goods, quite unprecedented!"

Here Chichikov went completely beyond the bounds of all patience, banged his chair on the floor in aggravation, and wished the devil on her.

Of the devil the lady landowner was extraordinarily frightened.

"Oh, don't remind me of that one, God help him!" she cried out, turning all pale. "Just two days ago I spent the whole night dreaming about the cursed one. I had a notion to tell my fortune with cards that night after prayers, and God sent him on me as a punishment. Such a nasty one; horns longer than a bull's."

"I'm amazed you don't dream of them by the dozen. It was only Christian loving-kindness that moved me: I saw a poor widow wasting away, suffering want. . . no, go perish and drop dead, you and all your estate! ..."

"Ah, what oaths you're hanging on me!" the old woman said, looking at him in fear.

"But there's no way to talk with you! Really, you're like some— not to use a bad word—some cur lying in the manger: he doesn't eat himself, and won't let others eat. I thought I might buy up various farm products from you, because I also do government contracting ..." Here he was fibbing, though by the way and with no further reflection, but with unexpected success. The government contracting produced a strong effect on Nastasya Petrovna, at least she uttered now, in an almost pleading voice:

"But why all this hot anger? If I'd known before that you were such an angry one, I wouldn't have contradicted you at all."

"What's there to be angry about! The whole affair isn't worth a tinker's dam—as if I'd get angry over it!"

"Well, as you please, I'm prepared to let you have them for fifteen in banknotes! Only mind you, my dear, about those contracts: if you happen to buy up rye flour, or buckwheat flour, or grain, or butchered cattle, please don't leave me out."

"No, dearie, I won't leave you out," he said, all the while wiping off the sweat that was streaming down his face. He inquired whether she had some attorney or acquaintance in town whom she could authorize to draw up the deed and do all that was necessary.

"Of course, our priest, Father Kiril, has a son who serves in the treasury," said Korobochka.

Chichikov asked her to write a warrant for him, and, to save her needless trouble, even volunteered to write it himself.