Dead Souls - Gogol Nikolai Vasilievich.pdf - Cove Systems

appearance, since the inn belonged to the
species to be found in all provincial towns--the
species wherein, for two roubles a day,
travellers may obtain a room swarming with
black-beetles, and communicating by a
doorway with the apartment adjoining. True,
the doorway may be blocked up with a
wardrobe; yet behind it, in all probability,
there will be standing a silent, motionless
neighbour whose ears are burning to learn
every possible detail concerning the latest
arrival. The inn's exterior corresponded with
its interior. Long, and consisting only of two
storeys, the building had its lower half
destitute of stucco; with the result that the
dark-red bricks, originally more or less dingy,
had grown yet dingier under the influence of
atmospheric changes. As for the upper half of
the building, it was, of course, painted the
usual tint of unfading yellow. Within, on the
ground floor, there stood a number of benches
heaped with horse-collars, rope, and
sheepskins; while the window-seat
accommodated a sbitentshik [4], cheek by