So I give in.

I gave in to poor Stepan.

And now he is exiled.

Perhaps if I had been firm--if I had forbidden all this nonsense about charity--it would have been different.
And Stepan would have been quietly at home instead of in Tomsk, is it, or Tobolsk?
I always forget which.

Well, Catrina says we must live in Petersburg this winter, and--nous voila!" Steinmetz shrugged his shoulders with a commiserating smile.