第144章

Suddenly there resounded through the hall a clatter of spurred heels, and then the voice of a gendarme saying: "You are commanded to present yourself before the Governor-General!" Turning round, Chichikov stared in horror at the spectacle presented; for in the doorway there was standing an apparition wearing a huge moustache, a helmet surmounted with a horsehair plume, a pair of crossed shoulder-belts, and a gigantic sword! A whole army might have been combined into a single individual! And when Chichikov opened his mouth to speak the apparition repeated, "You are commanded to present yourself before the Governor-General," and at the same moment our hero caught sight both of a second apparition outside the door and of a coach waiting beneath the window. What was to be done? Nothing whatever was possible. Just as he stood--in his smoked-grey-shot-with-flame-colour suit--he had then and there to enter the vehicle, and, shaking in every limb, and with a gendarme seated by his side, to start for the residence of the Governor-General.

And even in the hall of that establishment no time was given him to pull himself together, for at once an aide-de-camp said: "Go inside immediately, for the Prince is awaiting you." And as in a dream did our hero see a vestibule where couriers were being handed dispatches, and then a salon which he crossed with the thought, "I suppose I am not to be allowed a trial, but shall be sent straight to Siberia!" And at the thought his heart started beating in a manner which the most jealous of lovers could not have rivalled. At length there opened a door, and before him he saw a study full of portfolios, ledgers, and dispatch-boxes, with, standing behind them, the gravely menacing figure of the Prince.

"There stands my executioner," thought Chichikov to himself. "He is about to tear me to pieces as a wolf tears a lamb."Indeed, the Prince's lips were simply quivering with rage.

"Once before did I spare you," he said, "and allow you to remain in the town when you ought to have been in prison: yet your only return for my clemency has been to revert to a career of fraud--and of fraud as dishonourable as ever a man engaged in.""To what dishonourable fraud do you refer, your Highness?" asked Chichikov, trembling from head to foot.

The Prince approached, and looked him straight in the eyes.

"Let me tell you," he said, "that the woman whom you induced to witness a certain will has been arrested, and that you will be confronted with her."The world seemed suddenly to grow dim before Chichikov's sight.

"Your Highness," he gasped, "I will tell you the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I am guilty--yes, I am guilty; but I am not so guilty as you think, for I was led away by rascals.""That any one can have led you away is impossible," retorted the Prince. "Recorded against your name there stand more felonies than even the most hardened liar could have invented. I believe that never in your life have you done a deed not innately dishonourable--that not a kopeck have you ever obtained by aught but shameful methods of trickery and theft, the penalty for which is Siberia and the knut. But enough of this! From this room you will be conveyed to prison, where, with other rogues and thieves, you will be confined until your trial may come on. And this is lenient treatment on my part, for you are worse, far worse, than the felons who will be your companions. THEYare but poor men in smocks and sheepskins, whereas YOU--" Without concluding his words, the Prince shot a glance at Chichikov's smoked-grey-shot-with-flame-colour apparel.

Then he touched a bell.

"Your Highness," cried Chichikov, "have mercy upon me! You are the father of a family! Spare me for the sake of my aged mother!""Rubbish!" exclaimed the Prince. "Even as before you besought me for the sake of a wife and children whom you did not even possess, so now you would speak to me of an aged mother!""Your Highness," protested Chichikov, "though I am a wretch and the lowest of rascals, and though it is true that I lied when I told you that I possessed a wife and children, I swear that, as God is my witness, it has always been my DESIRE to possess a wife, and to fulfil all the duties of a man and a citizen, and to earn the respect of my fellows and the authorities. But what could be done against the force of circumstances? By hook or by crook I have ever been forced to win a living, though confronted at every step by wiles and temptations and traitorous enemies and despoilers. So much has this been so that my life has, throughout, resembled a barque tossed by tempestuous waves, a barque driven at the mercy of the winds. Ah, I am only a man, your Highness!"And in a moment the tears had gushed in torrents from his eyes, and he had fallen forward at the Prince's feet--fallen forward just as he was, in his smoked-grey-shot-with-flame-colour frockcoat, his velvet waistcoat, his satin tie, and his exquisitely fitting breeches, while from his neatly brushed pate, as again and again he struck his hand against his forehead, there came an odorous whiff of best-quality eau-de-Cologne.

"Away with him!" exclaimed the Prince to the gendarme who had just entered. "Summon the escort to remove him.""Your Highness!" Chichikov cried again as he clasped the Prince's knees; but, shuddering all over, and struggling to free himself, the Prince repeated his order for the prisoner's removal.

"Your Highness, I say that I will not leave this room until you have accorded me mercy!" cried Chichikov as he clung to the Prince's leg with such tenacity that, frockcoat and all, he began to be dragged along the floor.

"Away with him, I say!" once more the Prince exclaimed with the sort of indefinable aversion which one feels at the sight of a repulsive insect which he cannot summon up the courage to crush with his boot.