On a fair summer’s evening he seemed to be sitting at a tea-table on the terrace of Oblomovka--sitting under a canopy of leafy shade which the sun was powerless to penetrate. From a long pipe in his hand he was lazily inhaling smoke, and revelling both in the delightful view which stretched beyond the circle of the trees and in the coolness and the quiet of his surroundings. In the distance some fields were turning to gold as the sun, setting behind a familiar birch-grove, tinged to red the mirror-like surface of the lake. From the fields a mist had risen, for the chill of evening was falling, and dusk approaching apace. To his ears, at intervals, came the clatter of peasantry as they returned homewards, and at the entrance gates the servants of the establishment were sitting at ease, while from their vicinity came the sound of echoing voices and laughter, the playing of _balalaiki_, * and the chattering of girls as they pursued the sport of _goriclki_. ** Around him, also, his little ones were frisking at times climbing on to his knee and hanging about his neck; while behind the _samovar_ *** was seated the real ruler of all that his eyes were beholding his divinity, a woman, his _wife!_... And in the dining-room--a room at once elegant and simply appointed--a cheerful fire was glowing, and Zakhar, now promoted to the dignity of a major-domo, and adorned with whiskers turned wholly grey, was laying a large, round table to a pleasant accompanying tinkle of crystal and silver as he arranged, here a decanter and there a fork. * Three-stringed, lute-like instruments. ** A sort of catch-as catch-can. *** Tea-urn. Presently the dreamer saw his wife and himself sit down to a bountiful supper. Yes, and with them was Schtoltz, the comrade of his youth, his unchanging friend, with other well-known faces. Lastly, he could see the inmates of the house retiring to rest.... Oblomov’s features blushed with delight at the vision. So clear, so vivid, so poetical was it all that for a moment he lay with his face buried in the sofa cushions. Suddenly there had come upon him a dim longing for love and quiet happiness; suddenly he had become athirst for the fields and the hills of his native place, for his home, for a wife, for children.... After lying face downwards for a moment or two, he turned upon his back. His features were alight with generous emotion, and for the time being he was--_happy_.