Town of N. is the provincial setting where Chichikov’s dealings become a public scandal and official uncertainty turns into panic. Its defining episodes show a community quick to manufacture explanations, slow to establish facts, and absorbed in its own fortunes even when faced with death and political change.

Rumor and Public Alarm

After the two ladies discuss the affair, the Public Prosecutor enters and hears their account of both the purchase of dead souls and the alleged plan to abduct the Governor’s daughter. The women then disperse to spread the news through the town; within half an hour, they have succeeded in setting the public, especially the officials, into a state of alarm.

The rumors split the town’s attention into two competing questions: the dead souls and the Governor’s daughter. The men concentrate on the transaction, while the women pursue the supposed abduction. Their account of Chichikov’s relationship with the daughter grows elaborate and contradictory: some claim he had long loved her, met her by moonlight, and meant to abduct her after the Governor refused consent; others deny that he had a wife and invent a different scheme involving the girl’s mother. The town turns uncertainty into vivid stories rather than resolving it.

The Officials’ Confusion

The officials try to learn about Chichikov through their servants, but the inquiries yield almost nothing. Petrushka offers his questioners only the smell of his living room, while Selifan says that his master had worked for the State and served in the Customs. The investigation therefore leaves the central question unanswered: the officials do not know who Chichikov is, yet fear that he may be either a person they should detain or someone capable of detaining them for their own misconduct.

Their proposed final debate is to take place at the Chief of Police’s residence. By the opening of the chapter, the strain of the rumors, the appointment of a new Governor-General, and the arrival of two serious documents have visibly worn down many officials; several have grown so thin that their frockcoats hang loosely. The Postmaster alone is presented as notably unruffled, trusting the durability of his position after seeing several Governor-Generals come and go. The gathering’s larger failure, however, is its lack of common sense: without a guiding authority, the officials’ assembly tends toward confusion.

Chichikov Shut Out

When Chichikov goes around town, the changed behavior of his acquaintances gives him no explanation. At one house a footman refuses him the courtesy formerly shown him, reasoning that if his master will not receive the visitor, the visitor must be a rogue. The President of the Council can scarcely speak coherently; the Chief of Police, Vice-Governor, Postmaster, and others either deny Chichikov admittance or receive him with conspicuous embarrassment and distraction.

Unable to determine whether he or the officials have lost their senses, Chichikov wanders aimlessly and returns to the inn, where he orders tea. His isolation is sharpened by the contrast between his earlier habit of setting out each afternoon in high spirits and this bewildered return. Nozdrev’s arrival interrupts his attempt to make sense of the town’s sudden coldness, but the scene first establishes that Chichikov has become an object of collective suspicion without being told what the officials believe.

Departure and the Funeral Procession

Chichikov prepares to leave the town after a wheel on his britchka needs repair. Selifan is sent to find a blacksmith, and the work takes five and a half hours instead of the two Chichikov demanded. Once the vehicle is packed, the wheel fitted with a new tyre, and the horses re-shod, the britchka finally rolls out of the inn yard. As it jolts over the cobblestones, Chichikov looks at the houses, streets, and garden walls with the sense that he may never see them again.

The departure is halted by a long funeral procession. Chichikov learns from Petrushka that it is the Public Prosecutor’s funeral, draws the curtains, and keeps out of sight as the officials pass bareheaded behind the hearse. They are not discussing the dead man so much as their own affairs and the coming Governor-General, while the women in mourning carriages appear to talk about the new administrator, anticipated balls, and their finery. The town’s public life thus continues its mixture of anxiety, self-interest, and social display even in the presence of a funeral; after the empty drozhkis pass, Chichikov can continue his journey.