tonChekhov
Onefineevening,anolessfinegovernmentclerkcalledIvanDmitritchTchervyakovwassittinginthesecondrowofthestalls,gazingthroughanoeraglassattheClochesdeCorneville。Hegazedandfeltattheacmeofbliss。Butsuddenly。。。Instoriesonesooftenmeetswiththis
"Butsuddenly
"。Theauthorsareright:lifeissofullofsurrises!Butsuddenlyhisfaceuckeredu,hiseyesdisaeared,hisbreathingwasarrested。。。hetooktheoeraglassfromhiseyes,bentoverand。。。
"Atchee!!!
"hesneezedasyouerceive。Itisnotrerehensibleforanyonetosneezeanywhere。Peasantssneezeandsodoolicesuerintendents,andsometimesevenrivycouncillors。Allmensneeze。Tchervyakovwasnotintheleastconfused,hewiedhisfacewithhishandkerchief,andlikeaoliteman,lookedroundtoseewhetherhehaddisturbedanyonebyhissneezing。Butthenhewasovercomewithconfusion。Hesawthatanoldgentlemansittinginfrontofhiminthefirstrowofthestallswascarefullywiinghisbaldheadandhisneckwithhisgloveandmutteringsomethingtohimself。Intheoldgentleman,TchervyakovrecognisedBrizzhalov,aciviliangeneralservingintheDeartmentofTransort。
"Ihavesatteredhim,
"thoughtTchervyakov,
"heisnottheheadofmydeartment,butstillitisawkward。Imustaologise。
"
Tchervyakovgaveacough,benthiswholeersonforward,andwhiseredinthegeneral&aos;sear。
"Pardon,yourExcellency,Isatteredyouaccidentally。。。
"
"Nevermind,nevermind。
"
"Forgoodnesssakeexcuseme,I。。。Ididnotmeanto。
"
"Oh,lease,sitdown!Letmelisten!
"Tchervyakovwasembarrassed,hesmiledstuidlyandfelltogazingatthestage。Hegazedatitbutwasnolongerfeelingbliss。Hebegantobetroubledbyuneasiness。Intheinterval,hewentutoBrizzhalov,walkedbesidehim,andovercominghisshyness,muttered:
"Isatteredyou,yourExcellency,forgiveme。。。yousee。。。Ididn&aos;tdoitto。。。
"
"Oh,that&aos;senough。。。I&aos;dforgottenit,andyoukeeonaboutit!
"saidthegeneral,movinghislowerliimatiently。
"Hehasforgotten,butthereisafiendishlightinhiseye,
"thoughtTchervyakov,lookingsusiciouslyatthegeneral。
"Andhedoesn&aos;twanttotalk。Ioughttoexlaintohim。。。thatIreallydidn&aos;tintend。。。thatitisthelawofnatureorelsehewillthinkImeanttositonhim。Hedoesn&aos;tthinksonow,buthewillthinksolater!
"
Ongettinghome,Tchervyakovtoldhiswifeofhisbreachofgoodmanners。Itstruckhimthathiswifetooktoofrivolousaviewoftheincident;shewasalittlefrightened,butwhenshelearnedthatBrizzhalovwasinadifferentdeartment,shewasreassured。
"Still,youhadbettergoandaologise,
"shesaid,
"orhewillthinkyoudon&aos;tknowhowtobehaveinublic。
"
"That&aos;sjustit!Ididaologise,buthetookitsomehowqueerly。。。hedidn&aos;tsayawordofsense。Therewasn&aos;ttimetotalkroerly。
"