That's nonsense though.

Let's leave that! Though it's awfully important....

By the way, I kept expecting that your mother would suddenly burst out with the great question....
Ach! yes, she was horribly glum at first, but suddenly, when I came to-day, she was beaming all over, what does that mean ?" "It's because I promised her to-day that within five days I'll be engaged to Lizaveta Nikolaevna," Nikolay Vsyevolodovitch said with surprising openness.
"Oh!...

Yes, of course," faltered Pyotr Stepanovitch, seeming disconcerted.

"There are rumours of her engagement, you know.