ARTEMY (throwing up his hands). I couldn't tell how it happened if I had to die for it. It is just as if a mist had clouded our brains. The devil has confounded us.
AMMOS. Who was the first to say it? These two here, this noble pair. (Pointing to Dobchinsky and Bobchinsky.)
BOBCHINSKY. So help me god, not i. I didn't even think of it.
DOBCHINSKY. I didn't say a thing, not a thing.
ARTEMY. Of course you did.
LUKA. Certainly. You came running here from the inn like madmen. "He's come, he's come. He doesn't pay." Found a rare bird!
GOVERNOR. Of course it was you. Town gossips, damned liars!
ARTEMY. The devil take you with your inspector-general and your tattle.
GOVERNOR. You run about the city, bother everybody, confounded chatterboxes. You spread gossip, you short-tailed magpies, you!
AMMOS. Damned bunglers!
LUKA. Simpletons.
ARTEMY. Pot-bellied mushrooms!
All crowd around them.
BOBCHINSKY. Upon my word, it wasn't i. It was Piotr Ivanovich.
DOBCHINSKY. No, Piotr Ivanovich, you were the first.
BOBCHINSKY. No, no. You were the first.
LAST SCENE
The same and a Gendarme.
GENDARME. An official from st. Petersburg sent by imperial order has arrived, and wants to see you all at once. He is stopping at the inn.
All are struck as by a thunderbolt. A cry of amazement bursts from the ladies simultaneously. The whole group suddenly shifts positions and remains standing as if petrified.
SILENT SCENE
The Governor stands in the center rigid as a post, with outstretched hands and head thrown backward. On his right are his wife and daughter straining toward him. Back of them the Postmaster, turned toward the audience, metamorphosed into a question mark. Next to him, at the edge of the group, three lady guests leaning on each other, with a most satirical expression on their faces directed straight at the Governor's family. To the left of the Governor is Zemlianika, his head to one side as if listening. Behind him is the Judge with outspread hands almost crouching on the ground and pursing his lips as if to whistle or say: "A nice pickle we're in!" Next to him is Korobkin, turned toward the audience, with eyes screwed up and making a venomous gesture at the Governor. Next to him, at the edge of the group, are Dobchinsky and Bobchinsky, gesticulating at each other, open-mouthed and wide-eyed. The other guests remain standing stiff. The whole group retain the same position of rigidity for almost a minute and a half. The curtain falls.
THE END