"Here are some more sweetmeats," said the hostess, returning with some few small plates; "these are very rare fruits, and preserved in honey."
"Very well, my darling, we'll taste them later," said Sobakevitch. "You had better now return into your own room, for Pavel Ivanovitch and myself are going to take off our coats and rest ourselves a little."
Lady Sobakevitch offered to send in some soft pillows, but her husband opposed it, and answered her, "Never mind, we will take our rest in these arm-chairs;" and the lady left the room.
[CHAPTER II.]
Sobakevitch bent his head slightly on one side, prepared to hear what the little business consisted in.
Tchichikoff began to speak, but his argument was of a very obscure nature; he alluded in very general terms to the whole Russian Empire, and expressed himself in terms of great praise about its territorial extent, and said, that even the ancient Roman Empire was far less in extent and power, and that other nations are justly surprised at the magnitude of the largest Empire in the world.
Sobakevitch continued to listen, with his head bent on one side.
And that, according to existing statutes of this vast empire—the grandeur of which has no equal—the census population, namely, those who have to pay a capitation tax, though hundreds and thousands of them have already, since then; terminated their worldly existence, remain still upon the lists, and are taxed until the next census be taken—a period of fifty years—on a par with the living; although, and it must not be forgotten, that, as a medium of equalization, the new-born population within the space of these fifty years is not liable to any taxation before the next census be taken again; and this was done for the purpose of not over-burthening the imperial administrations with too many difficult and tedious regulations, but principally to avoid as far as possible any additional complication of the already over-complicated mechanism of the imperial administrations.
Sobakevitch still listened with his head bent on one side.