Likewise, both window sills were studded with little heaps of ash, arranged, not without artifice, in rows of more or less tidiness.

Clearly smoking afforded the master of the house a frequent means of passing the time.
"Permit me to offer you a seat on this settee," said Manilov.

"Here you will be quieter than you would be in the drawing-room." "But I should prefer to sit upon this chair." "I cannot allow that," objected the smiling Manilov.

"The settee is specially reserved for my guests.

Whether you choose or no, upon it you MUST sit." Accordingly Chichikov obeyed.
"And also let me hand you a pipe." "No, I never smoke," answered Chichikov civilly, and with an assumed air of regret.
"And why ?" inquired Manilov--equally civilly, but with a regret that was wholly genuine.
"Because I fear that I have never quite formed the habit, owing to my having heard that a pipe exercises a desiccating effect upon the system." "Then allow me to tell you that that is mere prejudice.