rooms.
– Well done, instead of me, Pyotr, you put the
defunct Prov. He cannot pay you, - take this…
25 RUBLES IN PAPER MONEY
– Pyotr!.. Pyotr, not Prov!..
– You are asked to draft a document.
– No, I’d rather copy something.
Like that he turned into a lifelong
titular counselor Bashmachkin.
– The cloth has got worn…
There is in Petersburg a mighty foe for
coatless clerks. That foe is frost.
Petrovich, the tailor.
– No it can’t be repaired: a wretched
garment. You need a new one…
– And how much would it… er… cost?
– Well, three fifty-ruble notes or more.
– 150.
From that moment on he dreamed of his new
overcoat as of an agreeable companion.
– I have already had some,
my good woman.
Overcoat’s capital.
EXPENSES: LINEN TO WASH -
00, 57; COBBLING - 1,00;
EVENING TEA - 2,05; WEARING
THE UNIFORM OFF DUTY…
– For his long service our Akakiy
Akakievich got a gratuity of 60 rubles,
a buckle in a button-hole, and
a hemorrhoid in his bottom.
The most solemn day in the
life of Akakiy Akakievich.
– New overcoat! Let’s wet it!
– It’s not a new overcoat,
it’s just… er… an old coat.
– All right, I invite you all to
tea instead of Akakiy Akakievich.
As luck would have it, it is my name day.
The clerk who had invited him to tea lived
a long distance from Akakiy Akakievich.
Soon Akakiy Akakievich felt that he
was one too many in this company.
– Brother, they… they
stole my new overcoat…
– Brother, who should I… address?..
Superintendent?.. Police constable of the quarter?..
It is known that the Person of consequence
used to be a Person of no consequence.
But which merits made of him a
Person of consequence is not known.
– A clerk is waiting for
you in the anteroom.
– Ah! He can wait, I haven’t time now.
– A clerk is waiting for you
over there… Shall I call him?
– Your Excellency, I came to ask you…
– What next, dear sir! Don’t
you know how to proceed?
You should have addressed
the secretary first…
– Secretaries, your Excellency, are
people… er… you can’t depend on…
– What? What?! What! Where did you
get hold of such spirit, young man?
– How dare you, young man?!
In an instant it had blown
a quinsy into his throat.
– You had better lose
no time, my good woman,
order him now a deal coffin - an
oak one will be too dear for him.
Apparitions, each stranger than the
one before, were haunting him.
UNDER THIS REFERENCE NUMBER IT IS
REPORTED THAT A TITULAR COUNSELOR,
AKAKIY AKAKIEVICH BASHMACHKIN,
IS WITHDRAWN FROM THE RECORDS…
…BY REASON OF DEATH.
A. BASHMACHKIN
THE END