Nikolay Vsyevolodovitch staggered violently.
Shatov struck the blow in a peculiar way, not at all after the conventional fashion (if one may use such an expression).

It was not a slap with the palm of his hand, but a blow with the whole fist, and it was a big, heavy, bony fist covered with red hairs and freckles.

If the blow had struck the nose, it would have broken it.

But it hit him on the cheek, and struck the left corner of the lip and the upper teeth, from which blood streamed at once.
I believe there was a sudden scream, perhaps Varvara Petrovna screamed--that I don't remember, because there was a dead hush again; the whole scene did not last more than ten seconds, however.
Yet a very great deal happened in those seconds.
I must remind the reader again that Nikolay Vsyevolodovitch's was one of those natures that know nothing of fear.

At a duel he could face the pistol of his opponent with indifference, and could take aim and kill with brutal coolness.