and endeavored to so construe it that he might turn it to his own
advantage.

When, however, he understood that there was no such opportunity, he
ceased to take interest in the projects, and continued to smile only
to please his master. Seeing that the clerk could not understand him,
Nekhludoff dismissed him from his presence, seated himself at the
ink-stained table and proceeded to commit his project to paper.

The sun was already descending behind the unfolding lindens, and the
mosquitos filled the room, stinging him. While he was finishing his
notes, Nekhludoff heard the lowing of cattle in the village, the
creaking of the opening gates and the voices of the peasants who were
coming to meet their master. Nekhludoff told the clerk not to call
them before the office, that he would go and meet them at any place in
the village, and gulping down a glass of tea offered him by the clerk,
he went to the village.




CHAPTER IV.


The crowd stood talking in front of the house of the bailiff, and as
Nekhludoff approached, the conversation ceased and the peasants, like
those of Kusminskoie, removed their caps. It was a coarser crowd than
the peasants of Kusminskoie, and almost all the peasants wore bast
shoes and homespun shirts and caftans. Some of them were bare-footed
and only in their shirts.