1 "This lady owns by no means a poor village," said Chichikov to himself; wherefore he decided then and there to have a talk with his hostess, and to cultivate her closer acquaintance.
2 You have a nice little village here, madam.
3 Upon that the lean, long, and red-bearded Uncle Mitai mounted the shaft horse; in which position he looked like a village steeple or the winder which is used to raise water from wells.
4 At the same time Chichikov noticed a look of decay about the buildings of the village.
5 Even before reaching Plushkin's village he had had a presentiment that he would do successful business there, but not business of such pre-eminent profitableness as had actually resulted.
6 In short, he made such a scene that the whole village came running to the house, and children screamed, and men shouted, and no one could tell what it was all about.
7 Beyond, on the side of a slope, lie some scattered peasants' huts, a manor house, and, flanking the latter, a village church with its cross flashing like a star.
8 Lastly, a peasant of Tientietnikov's own village, when asked what his barin was like, returned no answer at all.
9 In the same way had choral dances begun to be weaved in the village, and everywhere that the eye turned there was merriment.
10 However, as I say, the pair ended by swearing eternal friendship with one another, and making a practice of resorting to the village tavern in company.
11 "Doing business in the village with a party of factors," replied the lady as she conducted her guests to the drawing-room.
12 Also, the village in Khlobuev's estate had about it a deserted air, and as for the proprietor himself, he was discovered in a state of drowsy dishevelment, having not long left his bed.
13 Everywhere the same slovenliness, the same disorder, was displaying itself unadorned: the only difference being that a fresh puddle had formed in the middle of the village street.
14 It has long been our peasants' play-ground, and all the traditions of our village are bound up with it.
15 Behind the church a long village stretched in two rows, with chimneys peeping out here and there above the thatched roofs.