As he went round to pay these calls Nikolay was very grave and even gloomy.

Every one appeared to receive him sympathetically, but everybody seemed embarrassed and glad that he was going to Italy.

Ivan Ossipovitch was positively tearful, but was, for some reason, unable to bring himself to embrace him, even at the final leave-taking.

It is true that some of us retained the conviction that the scamp had simply been making fun of us, and that the illness was neither here nor there.

He went to see Liputin too.
"Tell me," he said, "how could you guess beforehand what I should say about your sense and prime Agafya with an answer to it ?" "Why," laughed Liputin, "it was because I recognised that you were a clever man, and so I foresaw what your answer would be." "Anyway, it was a remarkable coincidence.