kicked him under the table. Sipiagin also seemed out of sorts. He
was extremely dissatisfied with the manager of his paper mill, a
German, to whom he paid a large salary. Sipiagin began by abusing
Germans in general, then announced that he was somewhat of a
Slavophil, though not a fanatic, and mentioned a certain young
Russian, by the name of Solomin, who, it was said, had
successfully established another mill belonging to a neighbouring
merchant; he was very anxious to meet this Solomin.

Kollomietzev came in the evening; his own estate was only about
ten miles away from "Arjanov," the name of Sipiagin's village.
There also came a certain justice of the peace, a squire, of the
kind so admirably described in the two famous lines of Lermontov--

Behind a cravat, frock coat to the heels
Moustache, squeaky voice--and heavy glance.

Another guest arrived, with a dejected look, without a tooth in
his head, but very accurately dressed. After him came the local
doctor, a very bad doctor, who was fond of coming out with
learned expressions. He assured everyone, for instance, that he
liked Kukolnik better than Pushkin because there was a great deal
of "protoplasm" about him. They all sat down to play cards.
Nejdanov retired to his own room, and read and wrote until
midnight.

The following day, the 9th of May, was Kolia's patron-saint's
day.

Although the church was not a quarter of a mile off, the whole