Act 2, Scenes 8, 9, and 10 Summary

Scene 8 - The Mayor comes in, followed by Dobchinsky. The Mayor and Khlestakov see each other, freeze in fear, and stare at each other for some time. It's evident that they're each terrified of what he thinks the other is going to do. After a moment, the Mayor recovers and introduces himself. Khlestakov quickly protests that he fully intends to pay his bill and blames the Landlord for being difficult and for giving him bad food. The Mayor apologizes for the Landlord's behavior, saying there's always fresh food available and offering Khlestakov more pleasant quarters. Khlestakov refuses, saying he believes the Mayor is talking about prison and saying he's a government official from St. Petersburg. In an aside, the Mayor misinterprets Khlestakov's fear as anger, and assumes the reason he is angry is that the shopkeepers have gotten to...