Fathers and Children

I

“Well, Piotr, not in sight yet?” was the question asked on May the 20th, 1859, by a gentleman of a little over forty, in a dusty coat and checked trousers, who came out without his hat on to the low steps of the posting station at S⁠⸺. He was addressing his servant, a chubby young fellow, with whitish down on his chin, and little, lacklustre eyes.

The servant, in whom everything⁠—the turquoise ring in his ear, the streaky hair plastered with grease, and the civility of his movements⁠—indicated a man of the new, improved generation, glanced with an air of indulgence along the road, and made answer:

“No, sir; not in sight.”