POSTMASTER (_breathlessly entering with an open letter in his hand_): An astonishing fact, gentlemen! The official which we took for an inspector-general is not one! I have discovered this from a letter which he wrote and which I saw was addressed "Post Office Street." So, as I said to myself that he had been reporting to the authorities something he had found wrong in the postal department, I felt a supernatural impulse constraining me to open the letter. GOVERNOR: You dared to open the letter of so powerful a personage? POSTMASTER: That is just the joke; that he is neither powerful nor a personage. I will read the letter. (_Reads_) "I hasten to inform you, my dear Tryapitchkin, of my experiences. I was cleared out of everything on the way by an infantry captain, so that an innkeeper wanted to put me in prison; when, owing to my Petersburg appearance and dress, the whole town suddenly took me for the governor-general. So now I am living with the governor, enjoy myself, and flirt with his wife and daughter. These people all lend me as much money as ever I please. The governor is as stupid as a grey gelding. The postmaster is a tippler. The charity commissioner is a pig in a skull-cap." GOVERNOR: I am crushed--crushed--completely crushed. Catch him! POSTMASTER: How can we catch him? I, as if purposely, specially ordered for him the very best post-carriage and three horses. GOVERNOR: What an old fool I am! I have been thirty years in the service; not a tradesman nor contractor could cheat me; rogues upon rogues have I outwitted; three governors-general have I deceived! ANNA ANDREYEVNA: But this cannot be, Antosha. He is engaged to Mashenka. GOVERNOR (_enraged_): Engaged! Rubbish! Look, look; all the world, all Christendom, all of you look how the governor is fooled! Fool, fool; old driveller that I am! (_Shakes his fist at himself_) Ah, you fat-nose! Taking a rag for a man of rank! And now he is jingling his bells along the road. Who first said he was an inspector-general? Answer! [_All point to_ BOBCHINSKI _and_ DOBCHINSKI, _who fall to accusing each other. A gendarme enters_. GENDARME: The inspector-general sent by imperial command has arrived, and requires you to attend him immediately. He awaits you at the inn. [_Thunderstruck at this announcement, the whole group remained as if petrified, and the curtain falls_. FOOTNOTES: