t did I write those letters for? Oh, I forgot. Lise idolizes Darya
Pavlovna, she says so anyway; she says of her '_c'est un ange,_ only
rather a reserved one.' They both advised me, even Praskovya. ...
Praskovya didn't advise me though. Oh, what venom lies concealed in
that 'Box'! And Lise didn't exactly advise me: 'What do you want to get
married for,' she said, 'your intellectual pleasures ought to be enough
for you.' She laughed. I forgive her for laughing, for there's an ache
in her own heart. You can't get on without a woman though, they said to
me. The infirmities of age are coming upon you, and she will tuck you
up, or whatever it is.... _Ma foi,_ I've been thinking myself all this
time I've been sitting with you that Providence was sending her to me
in the decline of my stormy years and that she would tuck me up, or
whatever they call it... _enfin,_ she'll be handy for the housekeeping.
See what a litter there is, look how everything's lying about. I said it
must be cleared up this morning, and look at the book on the floor! _La
pauvre amie_ was always angry at the untidiness here. ... Ah, now I shall
no longer hear her voice! _Vingt ans!_ And it seems they've had anonymous
letters. Only fancy, it's said that Nicolas has sold Lebyadkin his
property. _C'est un monstre; et enfin_ what is Lebyadkin? Lise listens,
and listens, ooh, how she listens! I forgave her laughing. I saw her
face as she listened, and _ce Maurice..._I shouldn't care to be in his
shoes now, _brave homme tout de meme,_ but rather shy; but never mind
him...."

He paused. He was tired and upset, and sat with drooping head, staring
at the floor with his tired eyes. I took advantage of the interval to
tell him of my visit to Filipov's house, and curtly and dryly expressed
my opinion that Lebyadkin's sister (whom I had never seen) really
might have been somehow victimised by Nicolas at some time during that
mysterious period of his life, as Liputin had called it, and that it
was very possible that Lebyadkin received sums of money from Nicolas for
some reason, but that was all. As for the scandal about Darya Pavlovna,
that was all nonsense, all that brute Liputin's misrepresentations, that
this was anyway what Alexey Nilitch warmly maintained, and we had
no grounds for disbelieving him. Stepan Trofimovitch listened to my
assurances with an absent air, as though they did not concern him. I
mentioned by the way my conversation with Kirillov, and added th