The Grand deception

The Mayor of a Russian town gathers his officials and tells them he has received a letter from a friend saying that a government inspector is traveling from province to province, and he is doing so incognito. The Judge, the Inspector of Schools, the Doctor, the Warden of Charities, and the Postmaster are all distressed that their various shortcuts, bribes, and derelictions of duty might be sussed out, so they decide to put their affairs in order as quickly as possible. The Mayor tells the Postmaster especially to read the letters coming in to see when the inspector might arrive, and the Postmaster cheerfully says he already does read them just to see what the world is up to. For his part, the Mayor worries that his occasional fleecing of the shopkeepers might catch up with him, but he consoles himself by saying that everyone has their little indiscretions.