PUSHKIN arrived in the little town of Kishinev with its low
houses and winding, muddy streets, in September 21, 1820. To-
ward the middle of November he left it again, with General
Irizov's permission, and went to visit the Davydovs ^★ on their es-
tate at Kamenka. General Inzov had granted the poet-functionary
a two weeks' leave of absence, but Pushkin stayed on until the
middle of the following March. As the General was always indul-
gent, he did not make much fuss over the young man's delay.
The eldest son of the Davydovs wrote him on December 15, 1820,
after Pushkin had been in Kamenka a month: "With Your Excel-
lency's permission Alexander Sergeivich Pushkin is still our guest.
He was counting on going back to Kishinev with General Orlov,
but he caught a cold, and is not yet well enough to start out. I feel
it my duty to report the fact to Your Excellency and assure you
that as soon as Alexander Sergeivich is better, he will lose no time
in returning to Kishinev."

To which Inzov replied, on December 29, 1820, with a note
which might have been written by a doting father rather than by
a staid official: "Up to the present I had been rather uneasy about
M. Pushkin, fearing that he might start out in freezing weather
and snowstorms, and that in view of the difficulties of the roads
in the steppes, he might have trouble. I was reassured, therefore,
on receiving your favor of the 15th instant, and I hope that Your
Excellency will not allow him to undertake the journey until he
is strong enough to do so."

Pushkin enjoyed himself on the Davydovs' estate, with its enor-
mous house, artificial grotto, and garden sloping gently down to
the river. There were a billiard room and library, an orchestra and
serf singers, a good table and good wines, a few pretty women and
gay friends. As the poet wrote Gnedich on December 4, 1820:

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