From the first, as I have said on an earlier page, his relationship to Andrey Vassilievitch had puzzled me.

If Nikitin were not of the common race of men, most assuredly was Andrey Vassilievitch of the most ordinary in the world.

He was a little man of a type in no way distinctively Russian--a type very common in England, in America, in France, in Germany.

He was, one would have said, of the world worldly, a man who, with a sharp business brain, had acquired for himself houses, lands, food, servants, acquaintances.

Upon these achievements he would pride himself, having worked with his own hand to his own advantage, having beaten other men who had started the race from the same mark as himself.