“ ‘It’s stupid there, Demyánitch,’ says he. Just to think, he found his only amusement here in the saloon! If he only would enter the service! yet, no: he has got entangled with cards and all the rest of it. When men get going that way, there’s no good in anything; nothing comes to any good.⁠ ⁠… E-ekh! we are going to the dogs, and no mistake.⁠ ⁠… The late mistress (may her soul rest in peace!) left us a rich inheritance: no less than a thousand souls, and about three hundred thousand rubles worth of timber-lands. He has mortgaged it all, sold the timber, let the estate go to rack and ruin, and still no money on hand. When the master is away, of course, the overseer is more than the master. What does he care? He only cares to stuff his own pockets.

“A few days ago, a couple of peasants brought complaints from the whole estate. ‘He has wasted the last of the property,’ they say. What do you think? he pondered over the complaints, and gave the peasants ten rubles apiece. Says he, ‘I’ll be there very soon. I shall have some money, and I will settle all accounts when I come,’ says he.