Poor Folk

Chapter 27

Also, I may tell you that my seat in the office is now next to

that of a certain Emelia Ivanovitch. He is not the Emelia whom

you know, but a man who, like myself, is a privy councillor, as

well as represents, with myself, the senior and oldest official

in our department. Likewise he is a good, disinterested soul, and

one that is not over-talkative, though a true bear in appearance

and demeanour. Industrious, and possessed of a handwriting purely

English, his caligraphy is, it must be confessed, even worse than

my own. Yes, he is a good soul. At the same time, we have never

been intimate with one another. We have done no more than

exchange greetings on meeting or parting, borrow one another's

penknife if we needed one, and, in short, observe such bare

civilities as convention d