y.... He even
acquired the luxury of an English keepsake, and (Oh, for shame!) admired
the portraits of divers, bewitching Gulnares and Medoras which "adorned"
it.... But his inborn modesty constantly restrained him. At home he
occupied his late father's study, which had also been his bedroom; and
his bed was the same on which his father had died.

The great support of his whole existence, his unfailing comrade and
friend, was his aunt, that Platosha, with whom he exchanged barely ten
words a day, but without whom he could not take a step. She was a
long-visaged, long-toothed being, with pale eyes in a pale face, and an
unvarying expression partly of sadness, partly of anxious alarm.
Eternally attired in a grey gown, and a grey shawl which was redolent of
camphor, she wandered about the house like a shadow, with noiseless
footsteps; she sighed, whispered prayers--especially one, her favourite,
which consisted of two words: "Lord, help!"--and managed the
housekeeping very vigorously, hoarding every kopek and buying everything
herself. She worshipped her nephew; she was constantly fretting about
his health, was constantly in a state of alarm, not about herself but
about him, and as soon as she thought there was anything the matter with
him, she would quietly approach and place on his writing-table a cup of
herb-tea, or stroke his back with her hands, which were as soft as
wadding.

This coddling did not annoy Yakoff, but he did not drink the herb-tea,
and only nodded approvingly. But neither could he boast of his health.
He was extremely sensitive, nervous, suspicious; he suffered from
palpitation of the heart, and sometimes from asthma. Like his father, he
believed that there existed in nature and in the soul of man secrets, of
which glimpses may sometimes be caught, though they cannot be
understood; he believed in the presence of certain forces and
influences, sometimes well-disposed but more frequently hostile ... and
he also believed in science,--in its dignity and worth. Of late he had
conceived a passion for photography. The odour of the ingredients used
in that connection greatly disturbed his old aunt,--again not on her own
behalf, but for Yasha's sake, on account of his chest. But with all his
gentleness of disposition he possessed no small portion of stubbornness,
and he diligently pursued his favourite occupation. "Platosha"
submitted, and merely sighed more frequently than ever, and whispered
"Lord, help!" a