Indeed, when the ladies departed, it was as in a dream that he saw the girl's comely presence, the delicate features of her face, and the slender outline of her form vanish from his sight; it was as in a dream that once more he saw only the road, the britchka, the three horses, Selifan, and the bare, empty fields.

Everywhere in life--yes, even in the plainest, the dingiest ranks of society, as much as in those which are uniformly bright and presentable--a man may happen upon some phenomenon which is so entirely different from those which have hitherto fallen to his lot.

Everywhere through the web of sorrow of which our lives are woven there may suddenly break a clear, radiant thread of joy; even as suddenly along the street of some poor, poverty-stricken village which, ordinarily, sees nought but a farm waggon there may came bowling a gorgeous coach with plated harness, picturesque horses, and a glitter of glass, so that the peasants stand gaping, and do not resume their caps until long after the strange equipage has become lost to sight.

Thus the golden-haired maiden makes a sudden, unexpected appearance in our story, and as suddenly, as unexpectedly, disappears.

Indeed, had it not been that the person concerned was Chichikov, and not some youth of twenty summers--a hussar or a student or, in general, a man standing on the threshold of life--what thoughts would not have sprung to birth, and stirred and spoken, within him; for what a length of time would he not have stood entranced as he stared into the distance and forgot alike his journey, the business still to be done, the possibility of incurring loss through lingering--himself, his vocation, the world, and everything else that the world contains! But in the present case the hero was a man of middle-age, and of cautious and frigid temperament.