The General laughs and consents

A short chapter. Chichikov drives ten versts to General Betrishchev — majestic in purple satin, one of the picturesque generals of 1812, generous and vain in equal measure. Chichikov flatters him as a saviour of the fatherland, then smooths over his quarrel with Tentetnikov by inventing, to his own dismay, that the young man is writing a history of the generals of 1812. The General is delighted and offers his material. Ulinka appears from behind a walnut armoire like light let into a dark room and argues with her father about his tolerance of the contemptible Vishnepokromov; her distress at deception going unpunished is the one sincere note in the room. Left alone with the General while he washes, Chichikov produces a new story: a decrepit uncle who will only hand over three hundred souls once Chichikov owns three hundred himself. Would the General transfer his dead as if living? Betrishchev collapses laughing and gives him the whole graveyard.

The shortest chapter and the most efficient. A lie told to escape one awkwardness — the history of the generals — immediately generates the credit needed for the next, which is the whole mechanism of Chichikov in miniature. Ulinka's entrance introduces the only moral instrument Part II possesses.