“Oh, indeed! It was you we were talking about, of course,” observed the free-and-easy youth who had been a clerk. “But you are a silly fool, Kvasov, let me tell you. Do you suppose the major could bribe a general like that, and that such a general would come all the way from Petersburg to inspect the major? You are a fool, my lad, let me tell you.”

“Why, because he’s a general won’t he take it?” someone in the crowd observed sceptically.

“Of course he won’t, if he does, he’ll take a jolly big one.”

“To be sure, he will; to match his rank.”

“A general will always take bribes,” Kvasov observed with decision.

“You’ve tried it on, I suppose?” said Baklushin suddenly coming in and speaking contemptuously. “I don’t believe you’ve ever seen a general.”

“I have, though!”