must have been happy and easy. He began calling aloud how reluctantly
he, poor and unaccustomed to change of scene and society, had come
at the end of April to the N---- District, where he had expected
dreariness, loneliness, and indifference to statistics, which he
considered was now the foremost among the sciences. When he arrived
on an April morning at the little town of N---- he had put up at
the inn kept by Ryabuhin, the Old Believer, where for twenty kopecks
a day they had given him a light, clean room on condition that he
should not smoke indoors. After resting and finding who was the
president of the District Zemstvo, he had set off at once on foot
to Kuznetsov. He had to walk three miles through lush meadows and
young copses. Larks were hovering in the clouds, filling the air
with silvery notes, and rooks flapping their wings with sedate
dignity floated over the green cornland.

"Good heavens!" Ognev had thought in wonder; "can it be that there's
always air like this to breathe here, or is this scent only to-day,
in honour of my coming?"

Expecting a cold business-like reception, he went in to Kuznetsov's
diffidently, looking up from under his eyebrows and shyly pulling
his beard. At first Kuznetsov wrinkled up his brows and could not
understand what use the Zemstvo could be to the young man and his
statistics; but when the latter explained at length what was material
for statistics and how such material was collected, Kuznetsov
brightened, smiled, and with childish curiosity began looking at
his notebooks. On the evening of the same day Ivan Alexeyitch was
already sitting at supper with the Kuznetsovs, was rapidly becoming
exhilarated by their strong home-made wine, and looking at the calm
faces and lazy movements of his new acquaintances, felt all over