rk produced a sensation;
we knew that the Zemstvo of our province was the object of marked
attention in the capital. I repeat, these were only flitting rumours
that disappeared for a time when Nikolay Vsyevolodovitch first came
among us. But I may observe that many of the rumours were partly due to
a few brief but malicious words, vaguely and disconnectedly dropped at
the club by a gentleman who had lately returned from Petersburg. This
was a retired captain in the guards, Artemy Pavlovitch Gaganov. He was
a very large landowner in our province and district, a man used to the
society of Petersburg, and a son of the late Pavel Pavlovitch Gaganov,
the venerable old man with whom Nikolay Vsyevolodovitch had, over four
years before, had the extraordinarily coarse and sudden encounter which
I have described already in the beginning of my story.

It immediately became known to every one that Yulia Mihailovna had
made a special call on Varvara Petrovna, and had been informed at the
entrance: "Her honour was too unwell to see visitors." It was known,
too, that Yulia Mihailovna sent a message two days later to inquire
after Varvara Petrovna's health. At last she began "defending" Varvara
Petrovna everywhere, of course only in the loftiest sense, that is, in
the vaguest possible way. She listened coldly and sternly to the hurried
remarks made at first about the scene on Sunday, so that during the
later days they were not renewed in her presence. So that the belief
gained ground everywhere that Yulia Mihailovna knew not only the whole
of the mysterious story but all its secret significance to the smallest
detail, and not as an outsider, but as one taking part in it. I may
observe, by the way, that she was already gradually beginning to gain
that exalted influence among us for which she was so eager and which
she was certainly struggling to win, and was already beginning to see
herself "surrounded by a circle." A section of society recognised her
practical sense and tact... but of that later. Her patronage partly
explained Pyotr Stepanovitch's rapid success in our society--a success
with which Stepan Trofimovitch was particularly impressed at the time.

We possibly exaggerated it. To begin with, Pyotr Stepanovitch seemed to
make acquaintance almost instantly with the whole town within the first
four days of his arrival. He only arrived on Sunday; and on Tuesday
I saw him in a carriage with Artemy Pavlovitch Gaganov, a man who was