Dead Souls

rifle.

This was just what was needed. Instead of the former woman, another was found there who knew and understood nothing. The former one was tucked away somewhere, so that afterwards nobody knew what had become of her. Meanwhile, as Samosvistov was pursuing his role as warrior, the lawyer was working wonders in the civilian area: he informed the governor indirectly that the prosecutor was writing a denunciation of him; he informed the police official that another official, living under cover, was writing denunciations of him; he assured the official living under cover that there was a still more undercover official who was informing on him—and drove them all into a situation where they had to turn to him for advice. A muddle of the following sort occurred: denunciation rode upon denunciation, and such things began to be discovered as the sun had never looked upon, and such as even did not exist at all. Everything was employed and made use of: who was an illegitimate son, and who had a mistress of what family and origin, and whose wife was dangling after whom. Scandals, temptations, and it all got so mixed up and intertwined with the story of Chichikov and the dead souls that it was quite impossible to grasp which of these affairs was the chief nonsense: both seemed of equal worth. When the documents finally began to reach the Governor-general, the poor prince could not understand a thing. The rather intelligent and efficient clerk who was charged with making an abstract almost lost his mind: it was quite impossible to grasp the threads of the affair. The prince was at that time preoccupied with a number of other matters, one more unpleasant than another. In one part of the province there was famine. The officials who were sent to distribute grain managed it somehow improperly. In another part of the province, the Old Believers were astir. Someone had spread it among them that an Antichrist had been born who would not leave even the dead alone and was buying up dead souls. People repented and sinned and, under the pretext of catching the Antichrist, bumped off some non-Antichrists. In another place, the muzhiks had rebelled against the landowners and police captains. Some tramps had spread rumors among them that a time was coming when peasants must be landowners and dress themselves up in tailcoats, and landowners must dress in simple caftans and be muzhiks—and the whole region, without considering that there would then be too many landowners and police captains, had refused to pay any taxes. There was need to resort to strong measures. The poor prince was in a very upset state of mind. At this moment it was announced to him that the tax farmer had come.

'Show him in,' said the prince.

The old man came in . . .

'Here's your Chichikov! You stood up for him and defended him. Now he's been caught in such an affair as the worst thief wouldn't venture upon.'

'Allow me to tell you, Your Excellency, that I do not quite understand this affair.'

'A forged will, and such a one! . . . It's public flogging for a thing like that!'

'Your Excellency, I say this not to defend Chichikov. But the affair has not yet been proved: there has been no investigation.'

'There is evidence: the woman who was dressed up in place of the deceased has been seized. I want to question her purposely in your presence.' The prince rang and ordered the woman brought.

Murazov fell silent.

'A most dishonest affair! And, to their disgrace, the foremost officials of the town are mixed up in it, the governor himself. He ought not to turn up together with thieves and wastrels!' the prince said hotly.

'But the governor is one of the heirs, he has the right to make a claim; and if others are latching on to it from all sides, well, Your Excellency, that is a human thing. A rich woman died, sir, without making intelligent and just arrangements; so those eager to profit by it flew down from all sides—it's a human thing ...'

'But why such abominations? . . . The scoundrels!' the prince said with a feeling of indignation. 'I don't have one good official: they are all scoundrels!'

'Your Excellency! who among us is as good as he ought to be? The officials of our town are all human, they have merits and many are quite knowledgeable, and no one is far removed from sin.'

'Listen, Afanasy Vassilyevich, tell me, I know that you alone are an honest man, what is this passion of yours for defending all sorts of scoundrels?'

'Your Excellency,' said Murazov, 'whoever the man may be whom you call a scoundrel, he is still a human being. How not defend a man if you know that he does half his evil out of coarseness and ignorance? For we do unjust things at every step, and at every moment are the cause of another's misfortune, and not even with any bad intention. You, Your Excellency, have also committed a great injustice.'

'What!' the prince exclaimed in amazement, completely struck by such an unexpected turn in the talk.

Murazov paused, fell silent, as if pondering something, and finally said:

'Well, let's say for instance in the Derpennikov^[xi] case.'

'Afanasy Vassilyevich! A crime against the fundamental laws of the state, tantamount to the betrayal of one's country!'

'I am not justifying him. But is it fair when a youth who in his inexperience was seduced and lured by others is judged on a par with someone who was one of the instigators? The same lot fell to Derpennikov as to some Voronoy-Dryannoy;^[69] but their crimes are not the same.'

'For God's sake ...' the prince said with visible agitation, 'tell me, do you know anything about it? I just recently wrote directly to Petersburg about alleviating his lot.'

'No, Your Excellency, I'm not saying it because I know something that you don't know. Though there is indeed one circumstance that might serve in his favor, he himself would not consent because another man would suffer by it. But what I think is only that you were perhaps pleased to be in too great a hurry then. Forgive me, Your Excellency, I am judging according to my weak understanding. You have ordered me several times to speak frankly. When I was still a superior, sir, I had many workers, both bad and good . . . One also has to take a man's earlier life into account, because if you don't consider everything with equanimity, but start by yelling at him—you'll merely frighten him, and never obtain a real confession: but if you question him sympathetically, as brother to brother—he himself will speak it all out and won't even ask for leniency, and there won't be any bitterness against anyone, because he will see clearly that it is not I who am punishing him, but the law.'

The prince lapsed into thought. At that moment a young official came in and stood deferentially, a portfolio in his hand. Care and travail showed on his young and still fresh face. One could see it was not for nothing that he served as a special agent. He belonged to the number of those few who do their clerical work con amove. Burning neither with ambition, nor with the desire for gain, nor with the imitation of others, he worked only because he was convinced that he had to be there and nowhere else, that life had been given him for that. To pursue, to analyze, and, having grasped all the threads of the most complicated case, to explain it—this was the thing for him. The labors, the efforts, the sleepless nights were abundantly rewarded if the case finally began to clarify itself before him, and the hidden causes revealed themselves, so that he felt he could convey the whole of it in a few words, clearly and distinctly, in such fashion that it would be obvious and understandable to anyone. It could be said that a student does not rejoice so much when some very difficult phrase and the true meaning of a great writer's thought are revealed to him, as he rejoiced when a very tangled case untangled itself before him. And yet. . .^[xii]

'... by grain in those places where there is famine; I know these things better than the officials do: I'll look personally into who needs what. And, with Your Excellency's permission, I'll also talk a bit with the Old Believers. They'll be more willing to speak with their own kind, with simple folk. So, God knows, maybe I can help settle things peaceably with them. And I won't take any money from you, by God, it's shameful to think of one's own gain at a time like this, when people are dying of hunger. I have supplies of ready grain; I've just sent to Siberia, and by next summer they'll deliver more.'

'God alone can reward you for such service, Afanasy Vassilyevich. And I will not say a single word, because—as you can feel yourself—no word is adequate here. But let me say one thing about your request. Tell me yourself: do I have the right to overlook this affair, and will it be just, will it be honest on my part to forgive the scoundrels?'

'Your Excellency, by God, you can't call them that, the less so as there are some quite worthy people among them. Man's circumstances are very difficult, Your Excellency, very, very difficult. It may so happen that a man seems thoroughly guilty; but once you go into it—it wasn't him at all.'

'But what will they themselves say if I overlook it? Some of them will turn up their noses still more, and even