“It is very comfortable then?”
“Extremely comfortable; the cushions, the springs, and everything else are perfect.”
“Ah! that is good.”
“And what a quantity of things can be packed away in it. I have never seen anything like it, your excellency. When I was still in the service there was room enough in the body to stow away ten bottles of rum, twenty pounds of tobacco, six uniforms, and two pipes, the longest pipes imaginable, your excellency; and in the pockets inside you could stow away a whole bullock.”
“That is very good.”
“It cost four thousand rubles, your excellency.”
“It ought to be good at that price. Did you buy it yourself?”
“No, your excellency, I had it by chance. It was bought by one of my oldest friends, a fine fellow with whom you would be very well pleased. We are very intimate. What is mine is his, and what is his is mine. I won it of him at cards. Would your excellency have the kindness to honour me at dinner to-morrow? You could see my calash.”
“I don’t know what to say. Alone I could not—but if you would allow me to come with these officers—”
“I beg of them to come too. I shall esteem it a great honour, gentlemen, to have the pleasure of seeing you at my house.”