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Chapter 14

The Peasants Stand Firm

T

HIS was how Fetyukovitch concluded his speech, and

the enthusiasm of the audience burst like an irresistible

storm. It was out of the question to stop it: the women wept,

many of the men wept too, even two important personages

shed tears. The President submitted, and even postponed

ringing his bell. The suppression of such an enthusiasm

would be the suppression of something sacred, as the la-

dies cried afterwards. The orator himself was genuinely

touched.

And it was at this moment that Ippolit Kirillovitch got up

to make certain objections. People looked at him with ha-

tred. ‘What? What’s the meaning of it? He positively dares

to make objections,’ the ladies babbled. But if the whole

world of ladies, including his wife, had protested he could

not have been stopped at that moment. He was pale, he was

shaking with emotion, his first phrases were even unin-

telligible, he gasped for breath, could hardly speak clearly,

lost the thread. But he soon recovered himself. Of this new

speech of his I will quote only a few sentences.

‘... I am reproached with having woven a romance. But