I was present at the first operation that he conducted with us--an easy amputation.
Semyonov was assisting and I know that he watched eagerly for some slip or hesitation.

It was an operation that any medical student might have conducted with success, but the first incision of the knife showed Nikitin a surgeon of genius.

Semyonov recognised it....

I fancied that from that moment I could detect in his attitude to Nikitin a puzzled wonder that such an artist could be at the same time such a fool.
I began to feel in Nikitin a very lively interest.

I had from the first been conscious of his presence, his distinction, his attitude of patient expectation and continuously happy reminiscence; but I felt now for the first time a closer, more personal interest.