CONTENTS
Book I
THE FAMILY COUNCIL
Book II
AS BECOMES GOOD KINSFOLK
Book III
FAMILY ACCOUNTS SETTLED
Book IV
THE GOOD LITTLE NIECE
Book V
FORBIDDEN FAMILY JOYS
Book VI
THE DESERTED MANOR-HOUSE
Book VII
THE SETTLEMENT
Anton Vasilyev, the manager of a remote estate, was giving hismistress, Arina Petrovna Golovliov, an account of his trip to Moscow.He had gone there to collect the money due from those of her peasantserfs who bought the right to live in the city by paying her a tax.When he had finished with his report, she told him he might retire, buthe lingered on irresolutely, as though he had something else to say,yet could not make up his mind to say it.
Arina Petrovna knew her servants through and through; she knew themeaning of their slightest gestures, she could even divine their inmostthoughts. And her steward's manner immediately aroused her disquietude.
"What else?" she asked, looking at him keenly.
"That's all," he replied evasively.
"Don't lie. There is something else. I can see it by your eyes."
Anton Vasilyev still hesitated and continued to shift from one foot tothe other.
"What is it? Tell me!" she shouted imperiously. "Out with it, out withit! And don't wag your whole body like a dog, Telltale!"
Arina Petrovna liked to call her managers and domestics by nicknames.She used Telltale for Anton Vasilyev, not because she had found him tocarry gossip treacherously, but simply because he had a loose tongue.
The centre of the estate that he managed was an important tradingvillage in which there were many taverns. He liked to take a glassof tea in a tavern and boast of his mistress's great power. And inthe course of his boasting he would sometimes unconsciously blab outsecrets. His mistress was always with a lawsuit on her hands, so thather trusty's garrulousness sometimes brought her sly stratagems to thesurface before they could be executed.
"Yes, I have got something else to say," Anton finally mumbled.
"What is it?" Arina Petrovna asked excitedly.
An imperious woman, with an extraordinarily lively imagination, sheinstantly pictured all sorts of disagreeable opposition and antagonism,and the thought so instantly took complete possession of her that sheturned white and jumped up from her chair.
"Stepan Vladimirych's house in Moscow has been sold," Anton said aftera pause.
"Well?"
"It's been sold."
"Why? How? Tell me."
"For debts, I suppose. Of course it can't be because of something nice."
"The police, the court, sold it, I suppose?"
"I suppose so. They say it was sold at auction for 8,000 rubles."
Arina Petrovna dropped back heavily into her armchair and gazed fixedlyat the window panes. She was so stunned by the news that she seemedto have lost consciousness for a while. Had she heard that StepanVladimirych had killed somebody, or that the Golovliov peasant serfshad risen in revolt and refused to render the service due her on herestates, or that serfdom had been abolished, she would not have been soshocked. Her lips trembled, her eyes