LEONÍD. Then I shan't enter the service, Potápych; I shall come directly to
the country, and here I shall live.

POTÁPYCH. You must enter the service, sir.

LEONÍD. What's that you say? Much I must! They'll make me a copying clerk!
[_He sits down upon a bench._

POTÁPYCH. No, sir, why should you work yourself? That's not the way to do
things! They'll find a position for you--of the most gentlemanly, delicate
sort; your clerks will work, but you'll be their chief, over all of them.
And promotions will come to you of themselves.

LEONÍD. Perhaps they will make me vice-governor, or elect me marshal of the
nobility.

POTÁPYCH. It's not improbable.

LEONÍD. Well, and when I'm vice-governor, shall you be afraid of me?

POTÁPYCH. Why should I be afraid? Let others cringe, but for us it's all
the same. You are our master: that's honor enough for us.

LEONÍD. [_Not hearing_] Tell me, Potápych, have we many pretty girls here?

POTÁPYCH. Why, really, sir, if you think it over, why shouldn't there be
girls? There are some on the estate, and among the house servants; only it
must be said that in these matters the household is very strictly run. Our
mistress, owing to her strict life and her piety, looks after that very