CHAPTER XVII. 



AT NIJNI NOVGOROD. 



IN a previous chapter I said, among other things, 

 that the journey up the Volga occupied six and a 

 half days, which I condemned as an indication of Rus- 

 sian indifference to the flight of time. 



On the Volga steamers the ticket is for passage 

 only ; food is obtained and paid for as at the Russian 

 hotels, where rooms are under one management and 

 dining arrangements under another. Just before land- 

 ing at Nijni Novgorod, when the obsequious young 

 man in swallow-tail coat and semi-immaculate shirt- 

 bosom, who had been so devoted and disinterested in 

 his attention to my wants, presented my bill for din- 

 ners, etc., I made a fairly startling discovery. We had 

 been, not six days and a half on the journey, but 

 eight and a half ! In humble imitation of Rip Van 

 Winkle I had, at some part of the voyage, laid down 

 and slept for two days without suspecting it! 



It is surprising how rapidly and unconsciously the 

 traveler becomes cynical and suspicious under the 

 benign influence of the paternal rule of the Russian 

 Tchin. Yet how could one suspect the young gentle- 

 man in the swallow-tail coat ? For did he not instantly 

 summon a brother swallow-tail to decide between us, 

 whether we had been six days or eight coming from 

 Tzaritzin ? And how could the author, with an 



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