The bailiff came in, and said everything, thank God, was doing well; but informed him that the buckwheat in the new drying machine had been a little scorched.

This piece of news irritated Levin.

The new drying machine had been constructed and partly invented by Levin.

The bailiff had always been against the drying machine, and now it was with suppressed triumph that he announced that the buckwheat had been scorched.