Oh, Foma!" said she in confusion.
"Keep quiet, you lamb!" said Foma to her.
"Yes, eavesdropping is wrong!" ejaculated Taras, slowly, without lifting from Foma his look of contempt.
"Let it be wrong!" said Foma, with a wave of the hand.

"Is it my fault that the truth can be learned by eavesdropping only ?" "Go away, Foma, please!" entreated Lubov, pressing close to her brother.
"Perhaps you have something to say to me ?" asked Taras, calmly.
"I ?" exclaimed Foma.

"What can I say?
I cannot say anything.

It is you who--you, I believe, know everything." "You have nothing then to discuss with me ?" asked Taras again.
"I am very pleased." He turned sideways to Foma and inquired of Lubov: "What do you think--will father return soon ?" Foma looked at him, and, feeling something akin to respect for the man, deliberately left the house.

He did not feel like going to his own huge empty house, where each step of his awakened a ringing echo, he strolled along the street, which was enveloped in the melancholy gray twilight of late autumn.