often
let out to several families, each of which occupies a "corner."

"at that time, from eccentricity. I'm only talking of that period,
Varvara Petrovna; as for 'eccentricity,' that's his own expression. He
does not conceal much from me. Mlle. Lebyadkin, who was thrown in the
way of meeting Nikolay Vsyevolodovitch very often, at one time, was
fascinated by his appearance. He was, so to say, a diamond set in the
dirty background of her life. I am a poor hand at describing feelings,
so I'll pass them over; but some of that dirty lot took to jeering at
her once, and it made her sad. They always had laughed at her, but she
did not seem to notice it before. She wasn't quite right in her head
even then, but very different from what she is now. There's reason to
believe that in her childhood she received something like an education
through the kindness of a benevolent lady. Nikolay Vsyevolodovitch
had never taken the slightest notice of her. He used to spend his time
chiefly in playing preference with a greasy old pack of cards for
stakes of a quarter-farthing with clerks. But once, when she was being
ill-treated, he went up (without inquiring into the cause) and seized
one of the clerks by the collar and flung him out of a second-floor
window. It was not a case of chivalrous indignation at the sight of
injured innocence; the whole operation took place in the midst of roars
of laughter, and the one who laughed loudest was Nikolay Vsyevolodovitch
himself. As it all ended without harm, they were reconciled and began
drinking punch. But the injured innocent herself did not forget it. Of
course it ended in her becoming completely crazy. I repeat I'm a poor
hand at describing feelings. But a delusion was the chief feature in
this case. And Nikolay Vsyevolodovitch aggravated that delusion as
though he did it on purpose. Instead of laughing at her he began all
at once treating Mlle. Lebyadkin with sudden respect. Kirillov, who was
there (a very original man, Varvara Petrovna, and very abrupt, you'll
see him perhaps one day, for he's here now), well, this Kirillov who,
as a rule, is perfectly silent, suddenly got hot, and said to Nikolay
Vsyevolodovitch, I remember, that he treated the girl as though she were
a marquise, and that that was doing for her altogether. I must add that
Nikolay Vsyevolodovitch had rather a respect for this Kirillov. What do
you suppose was the answer he gave him: 'You imagine, Mr. Kirillov, that
I am