“I see people on business not here but at the office,” said the director drily, on hearing his request.

“Forgive me, your Excellency, but our common acquaintances advised me to come here.”

“H’m!” growled the director, looking with hatred at the pointed toes of the young man’s shoes.  “To the best of my belief your father is a man of property and you are not in want,” he said.  “What induces you to ask for this post?  The salary is very trifling!”

“It’s not for the sake of the salary. . . .  It’s a government post, any way . . .”

“H’m. . . .  It strikes me that within a month you will be sick of the job and you will give it up, and meanwhile there are candidates for whom it would be a career for life.  There are poor men for whom . . .”

“I shan’t get sick of it, your Excellency,” Polzuhin interposed.  “Honour bright, I will do my best!”

It was too much for the director.

“Tell me,” he said, smiling contemptuously, “why was it you didn’t apply to me direct but thought fitting instead to trouble ladies as a preliminary?”

“I didn’t know that it would be disagreeable to you,” Polzuhin answered, and he was embarrassed.  “But, your Excellency, if you attach no significance to letters of recommendation, I can give you a testimonial. . . .”

He drew from his pocket a letter and handed it to the director.  At the bottom of the testimonial, which was written in official language and handwriting, stood the signature of the Governor.  Everything pointed to the Governor’s having signed it unread, simply to get rid of some importunate lady.

“There’s nothing for it, I bow to his authority. . .  I obey . . .” said the director, reading the testimonial, and he heaved a sigh.

“Send in your application to-morrow. . . .  There’s nothing to be done. . . .”

And when Polzuhin had gone out, the director abandoned himself to a feeling of repulsion.

“Sneak!” he hissed, pacing from one corner to the other.  “He has got what he wanted, one way or the other, the good-for-nothing toady!  Making up to the ladies!  Reptile!  Creature!”

The director spat loudly in the direction of the door by which Polzuhin had departed, and was immediately overcome with embarrassment, for at that moment a lady, the wife of the Superintendent of the Provincial Treasury, walked in at the door.

“I’ve come for a tiny minute . . . a tiny minute. . .” began the lady.  “Sit down, friend, and listen to me attentively. . . .  Well, I’ve been told you have a post vacant. . . .  To-day or to-morrow you will receive a visit from a young man called Polzuhin. . . .”

The lady chattered on, while the director gazed at her with lustreless, stupefied eyes like a man on the point of fainting, gazed and smiled from politeness.