"I should say, you could resist them!" thought Tchichikoff to himself, and he added aloud, that he was ready—out of pure esteem for the old man—to pay the expense of the contract of sale out of his own pocket.
On hearing this offer made to him, that even the expenses of the contract of sale would not be an expense to him, Pluschkin came to the conclusion that his strange guest must be completely deranged, and that he only pretended he had been in the civil service of his country, and that there could be no doubt that he had served as an officer in the army, and had been in the habit of courting actresses and ballet-girls.
Notwithstanding this opinion, he could impossibly hide his satisfaction, and wished his guest and his children and grandchildren all the blessings of Providence, without asking him previously whether he was married, and whether he had any family. He then hurried towards the window, and thumping with his bony fingers on the glass, he shouted out:
"Holloa, Proschka."
In a minute later, hurried footsteps were heard in the passage, and soon after behind the door of the apartment in which our hero and his host were; but the person outside continued for some time making a fearful noise with his boots, at last the door was opened and Proschka entered. He was a boy of about thirteen years of age; the boots which he wore were so large, that each step which he made forwards threatened to leave his boots behind.
Why the boy, Proschka, wore such a large pair of boots we can explain immediately; Pluschkin kept for the whole of his retinue—however many—but one pair of boots, which were always to be left behind the door in the passage. Every servant who was called by his master was obliged to skip bare-footed across the court-yard, but as soon as he entered the long and dark passage leading to his lord's apartment he was obliged to step into the boots, and then only allowed to enter the room of his master.
In leaving the chamber, he had to strip himself of those boots, and return to his own quarters on his natural soles. If any one had happened to have been standing at the window of Pluschkin's mansion—especially on a freezing autumn morning—he would have witnessed the skipping and jumping of the whole of his domestic servants, who made such evolutions as can scarcely be equalled by even the cleverest clown or ballet dancer.
"But, do me the favour, my good Sir, to look at this boy's face!" said Pluschkin to Tchichikoff, whilst pointing to the face of his servant boy, Proschka, "he seems as stupid as a log of wood, but try only to leave anything lying loose, in a minute he is sure to steal it! Now then, stupid boy, what have you come here for?"
After having said this he remained silent a few moments, which was answered by a silence from Proschka as well.
"Heat the samovar, do you hear me? and then give this key to Mavra, and tell her to go into the pantry; there she will find a large fish biscuit—given to me by Lady Alexander Stepanovna—tell her to serve this cake with the tea!"