speaking this morning about the nobles.. . . You have doubtless had an opportunity of studying what's called in England the landed gentry on the spot?'
'No; I had no such opportunity: I moved in a totally different sphere, but I formed a notion of these gentlemen for myself.'
'Well, do you imagine that such a landed gentry is impossible among us, and that in any case we ought not to wish for it?'
'In the first place, I certainly do imagine it to be impossible, and, secondly, I think it's not worth while wishing for it either.'
'Why so, my dear sir?' said Kallomyetsev. The last three words were by way of soothing Sipyagin, who was very uneasy and could not sit still in his chair.
'Because in twenty or thirty years your landed gentry will cease to exist any way.'
'But, really, why so, my dear sir?'
'Because by that time the land will have come into the hands of owners, without distinction of rank.'
'Merchants?'
'Probably merchants; mostly.'
'How will that be?'
'Why, by their buying it—the land, I mean.'
'Of the nobles?'
'Yes, the nobles.'
55
