Skipping along after him with his short legs, Ookhtishchev felt it his duty somehow to calm Foma.

Everything Foma had said and done that evening awakened in the jolly secretary a feeling of lively curiosity toward Foma, and then he felt flattered by the frankness of the young millionaire.

This frankness confused him with its dark power; he was disconcerted by its pressure, and though, in spite of his youth, he had a stock of words ready for all occasions in life, it took him quite awhile to recall them.
"I feel that everything is dark and narrow about me," said Gordyeeff.

"I feel that a burden is falling on my shoulders, but what it is I cannot understand! It puts a restraint on me, and it checks the freedom of my movements along the road of life.

Listening to people, you hear that each says a different thing.