But how have the rights and duties of the family come about in the superstitious form in which they exist at present?
That's the question.
What's your opinion ?" "What do you mean by 'come about' ?" Stavrogin asked in his turn.
"We know, for instance, that the superstition about God came from thunder and lightning." The girl-student rushed into the fray again, staring at Stavrogin with her eyes almost jumping out of her head.

"It's well known that primitive man, scared by thunder and lightning, made a god of the unseen enemy, feeling their weakness before it.

But how did the superstition of the family arise?
How did the family itself arise ?" "That's not quite the same thing...." Madame Virginsky tried to check her.
"I think the answer to this question wouldn't be quite discreet," answered Stavrogin.
"How so ?" said the girl-student, craning forward suddenly.

But there was an audible titter in the group of teachers, which was at once caught up at the other end by Lyamshin and the schoolboy and followed by a hoarse chuckle from the major.
"You ought to write vaudevilles," Madame Virginsky observed to Stavrogin.
"It does you no credit, I don't know what your name is," the girl rapped out with positive indignation.
"And don't you be too forward," boomed the major.

"You are a young lady and you ought to behave modestly, and you keep jumping about as though you were sitting on a needle." "Kindly hold your tongue and don't address me familiarly with your nasty comparisons.