people are depressed, why they weep, shoot themselves, and even
kill others; why they fret about things that do not affect them
personally, and why they laugh when they read Gogol or Shtchedrin
. . . . Everything abstract, everything belonging to the domain of
thought and feeling, was to him boring and incomprehensible, like
music to one who has no ear. He looked at people simply from the
business point of view, and divided them into competent and
incompetent. No other classification existed for him. Honesty and
rectitude were only signs of competence. Drinking, gambling, and
debauchery were permissible, but must not be allowed to interfere
with business. Believing in God was rather stupid, but religion
ought be safeguarded, as the common people must have some principle
to restrain them, otherwise they would not work. Punishment is only
necessary as deterrent. There was no need to go away for holidays,
as it was just as nice in town. And so on. He was a widower and had
no children, but lived on a large scale, as though he had a family,
and paid thousand roubles a year for his flat.

The second visitor, Kukushkin, an actual civil councillor though a
young man, was short, and was conspicuous for his extremely unpleasant
appearance, which was due to the disproportion between his fat,
puffy body and his lean little face. His lips were puckered up
suavely, and his little trimmed moustaches looked as though they
had been fixed on with glue. He was a man with the manners of a
lizard. He did not walk, but, as it were, crept along with tiny
steps, squirming and sniggering, and when he laughed he showed his
teeth. He was a clerk on special commissions, and did nothing,
though he received a good salary, especially in the summer, when
special and lucrative jobs were found for him. He was a man of
personal ambition, not only to the marrow of his bones, but more