584 585
the lawyer, not answering his question. “When can I reckon on receiv-
ing information from you?” he asked, moving towards the door, his eyes
and his varnished boots shining.
“In a week’s time. Your answer as to whether you will undertake to
conduct the case, and on what terms, you will be so good as to commu-
nicate to me.”
“Very good.”
The lawyer bowed respectfully, let his client out of the door, and,
left alone, gave himself up to his sense of amusement. He felt so
mirthful that, contrary to his rules, he made a reduction in his terms to
the haggling lady, and gave up catching moths, finally deciding that
next winter he must have the furniture covered with velvet, like Sigonin’s.
Chapter 6.
Alexey Alexandrovitch had gained a brilliant victory at the sitting
of the Commission of the 17th of August, but in the sequel this victory
cut the ground from under his feet. The new commission for the
inquiry into the condition of the native tribes in all its branches had
been formed and despatched to its destination with an unusual speed
and energy inspired by Alexey Alexandrovitch. Within three months
a report was presented. The condition of the native tribes was investi-
gated in its political, administrative, economic, ethnographic, material,
and religious aspects. To all these questions there were answers admi-
rably stated, and answers admitting no shade of doubt, since they were
not a product of human thought, always liable to error, but were all the
product of official activity. The answers were all based on official data
furnished by governors and heads of churches, and founded on the
reports of district magistrates and ecclesiastical superintendents,
founded in their turn on the reports of parochial overseers and parish
priests; and so all of these answers were unhesitating and certain. All
such questions as, for instance, of the cause of failure of crops, of the
adherence of certain tribes to their ancient beliefs, etc.— questions
which, but for the convenient intervention of the official machine, are
not, and cannot be solved for ages— received full, unhesitating solu-
tion. And this solution was in favor of Alexey Alexandrovitch’s con-