Kallomyetsev gave a condescending smirk. 'You said the very same thing before, I remember, of mills and factories, and now you say it of the whole of the land.'
'Yes, I say the same now of the whole of the land.'
'And you will be very glad of it, I suppose?'
'Not at all, as I have explained to you already; the people will be no better off for it.'
Kallomyetsev faintly raised one hand. 'What solicitude for the people's welfare, only fancy!'
'Vassily Fedotitch!' cried Sipyagin at the top of his voice. 'They have brought you some beer! Voyons, Siméon!' he added in an undertone.
But Kallomyetsev would not be quiet.
'You have not, I see,' he began again, addressing Solomin, 'an over-flattering opinion of the merchants; but they belong by extraction to the people, don't they?'
'And so?'
'I supposed that everything relating to the people or derived from the people would be good in your eyes.'
'Oh, no, sir! You were mistaken in supposing that. Our people are open to reproach in many ways, though they're not always in the
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