"I should have thought he had little enough to make him look robust." "Yes, indeed," observed Gedeonovsky; "any other man in Fedor Ivanitch's position would have hesitated to appear in society." "Why so, pray ?" interposed Marfa Timofyevna.

"What nonsense are you talking! The man's come back to his home--where would you have him go?
And has he been to blame, I should like to know!" "The husband is always to blame, madam, I venture to assure you, when a wife misconducts herself." "You say that, my good sir, because you have never been married yourself." Gedeonovsky listened with a forced smile.
"If I may be so inquisitive," he asked, after a short pause, "for whom is that pretty scarf intended ?" Marfa Timofyevna gave him a sharp look.
"It's intended," she replied, "for a man who does not talk scandal, nor play the hypocrite, nor tell lies, if there's such a man to be found in the world.

I know Fedya well; he was only to blame in being too good to his wife.

To be sure, he married for love, and no good ever comes of those love-matches," added the old lady, with a sidelong glance at Marya Dmitrievna, as she got up from her place.

"And now, my good sir, you may attack any one you like, even me if you choose; I'm going.