asy-going lot."

"Ah, Foma!" exclaimed Luba, vexed. "You understand nothing! Nothing
agitates you! You are an idler."

"Now, that's going too far! I've simply not had time enough to see where
I am."

"You are simply an empty man," said Luba, resolutely and firmly.

"You were not within my soul," replied Foma, calmly. "You cannot know my
thoughts."

"What is there that you should think of?" said Luba, shrugging her
shoulders.

"So? First of all, I am alone. Secondly, I must live. Don't I understand
that it is altogether impossible for me to live as I am now? I do not
care to be made the laughing-stock of others. I cannot even speak
to people. No, nor can I think." Foma concluded his words and smiled
confusedly.

"It is necessary to read, to study," Luba advised him convincingly,
pacing up and down the room.

"Something is stirring within my soul," Foma went on, not looking at
her, as though speaking to himself; "but I cannot tell what it is.
I see, for instance, that whatever my godfather says is clever and
reasonable. But that does not attract me. The other people are by far
more interesting to me."

"You mean the aristocrats?" asked Luba.

"Yes."

"That's just the place for you!" said Luba, with a smile of contempt.
"Eh, you! Are they men? Do they have souls?"

"How do you know them? You are not acquainted with them."

"And the books? Have I not read books about them?"

The maid brought in the samovar, and the conversation was interrupted.
Luba made tea in silence while Foma looked at her and thought of
Medinskaya. He was wishing to have a talk with her.

"Yes," said the girl, thoughtfully, "I am growing more and more
convinced everyday that it is hard to live. What shall I do? Marry?
Whom? Shall I marry a merchant who will do nothing but rob people all
his life, nothing but drink and play cards? A savage? I do not want
it! I want to be an individual. I am such, for I know how wrong the
construction of life is. Shall I study? My father will not allow this.
Oh Lord! Shall I run away? I have not enough courage. What am I to do?"

She clasped her hands and bowed her head over the table.

"If you knew but how repulsive everything is. There is not a living soul
around here. Since my mother died, my father drove everyone away. Some
went off to study. Lipa, too, left us. She writes me:

'Read.' Ah, I am reading! I am reading!' she exclaimed, with despair in
her voice, and after a moment's silence she w