fully persuaded
that for the next six days, anyway, he had put his mind at rest, and
this interval was absolutely necessary for his own purposes. But it was
a false idea and founded entirely on the fact that he had made up for
himself once for all an Andrey Antonovitch who was a perfect simpleton.

Like every morbidly suspicious man, Andrey Antonovitch was always
exceedingly and joyfully trustful the moment he got on to sure ground.
The new turn of affairs struck him at first in a rather favourable light
in spite of some fresh and troublesome complications. Anyway, his former
doubts fell to the ground. Besides, he had been so tired for the last
few days, so exhausted and helpless, that his soul involuntarily yearned
for rest. But alas! he was again uneasy. The long time he had spent in
Petersburg had left ineradicable traces in his heart. The official and
even the secret history of the "younger generation" was fairly familiar
to him--he was a curious man and used to collect manifestoes--but he
could never understand a word of it. Now he felt like a man lost in
a forest. Every instinct told him that there was something in Pyotr
Stepanovitch's words utterly incongruous, anomalous, and grotesque,
"though there's no telling what may not happen with this 'younger
generation,' and the devil only knows what's going on among them," he
mused, lost in perplexity.

And at this moment, to make matters worse, Blum poked his head in. He
had been waiting not far off through the whole of Pyotr Stepanovitch's
visit. This Blum was actually a distant relation of Andrey Antonovitch,
though the relationship had always been carefully and timorously
concealed. I must apologise to the reader for devoting a few words here
to this insignificant person. Blum was one of that strange class of
"unfortunate" Germans who are unfortunate not through lack of ability
but through some inexplicable ill luck. "Unfortunate" Germans are not
a myth, but really do exist even in Russia, and are of a special type.
Andrey Antonovitch had always had a quite touching sympathy for him, and
wherever he could, as he rose himself in the service, had promoted him
to subordinate positions under him; but Blum had never been successful.
Either the post was abolished after he had been appointed to it, or a
new chief took charge of the department; once he was almost arrested by
mistake with other people. He was precise, but he was gloomy to excess
and to his own detriment.