ARTEMY. What do you think, Anton Antonovich,
hadn't we better go in state to the inn?

AMMOS. No, no. First send the chief magistrate,
then the clergy, then the merchants. That's what it says
in the book. The Acts of John the Freemason.

GOVERNOR. No, no, leave it to me. I have been in
difficult situations before now. They have passed off all
right, and I was even rewarded with thanks. Maybe the
Lord will help us out this time, too. [Turns to Bobchinsky.]
You say he's a young man?

BOBCHINSKY. Yes, about twenty-three or four at the
most.

GOVERNOR. So much the better. It's easier to pump
things out of a young man. It's tough if you've got a
hardened old devil to deal with. But a young man is all
on the surface. You, gentlemen, had better see to your
end of things while I go unofficially, by myself, or with
Dobchinsky here, as though for a walk, to see that the
visitors that come to town are properly accommodated.
Here, Svistunov. [To one of the Sergeants.]

SVISTUNOV. Sir.

GOVERNOR. Go instantly to the Police Captain--or,
no, I'll want you. Tell somebody to send him here as
quickly as possibly and then come back.