The weak spot in Andrey Antonovitch's position was that he had blundered in the first instance by divulging the secret of his novel to him.

Imagining him to be an ardent young man of poetic feeling and having long dreamed of securing a listener, he had, during the early days of their acquaintance, on one occasion read aloud two chapters to him.

The young man had listened without disguising his boredom, had rudely yawned, had vouchsafed no word of praise; but on leaving had asked for the manuscript that he might form an opinion of it at his leisure, and Andrey Antonovitch had given it him.

He had not returned the manuscript since, though he dropped in every day, and had turned off all inquiries with a laugh.

Afterwards he declared that he had lost it in the street.
At the time Yulia Mihailovna was terribly angry with her husband when she heard of it.
"Perhaps you told him about the church too ?" she burst out almost in dismay.
Von Lembke unmistakably began to brood, and brooding was bad for him, and had been forbidden by the doctors.