He renewed acquaintances which she had hardly dared to dream of, and was welcomed everywhere with pleasure.

But very soon rather strange rumours reached Varvara Petrovna.

The young man had suddenly taken to riotous living with a sort of frenzy.

Not that he gambled or drank too much; there was only talk of savage recklessness, of running over people in the street with his horses, of brutal conduct to a lady of good society with whom he had a liaison and whom he afterwards publicly insulted.

There was a callous nastiness about this affair.