You can fancy how surprised I was.
I looked round, and there was that Lembke woman at her tricks, and that cousin of hers--old Drozdov's nephew--it was all clear.

You may be sure I changed all that in a twinkling, and Praskovya is on my side again, but what an intrigue!" "In which you came off victor, however.

Bismarck!" "Without being a Bismarck I'm equal to falseness and stupidity wherever I meet it, falseness, and Praskovya's folly.

I don't know when I've met such a flabby woman, and what's more her legs are swollen, and she's a good-natured simpleton, too.

What can be more foolish than a good-natured simpleton ?" "A spiteful fool, _ma bonne amie,_ a spiteful fool is still more foolish," Stepan Trofimovitch protested magnanimously.
"You're right, perhaps.