aristocrat, to breathe the same air--"

"Please don't talk like that about Ostrodumov before me!"
Nejdanov burst out. "He wears thick boots because they are
cheaper!"

"I did not mean it in that sense," Paklin began.

"If he did not wish to remain in the same room with an
aristocrat," Nejdanov continued, raising his voice, "I think it
very praiseworthy on his part, and what is more, he is capable of
sacrificing himself, will face death, if necessary, which is more
than you or I will ever do!

Paklin made a sad grimace, and pointed to his scraggy, crippled
legs.

"Now do I look like a warrior, my dear Alexai Dmitritch? But
enough of this. I am delighted that you met this Sipiagin, and
can even foresee something useful to our cause as a result of it.
You will find yourself in the highest society, will come in
contact with those wonderful beauties one hears about, women with
velvety bodies on steel springs, as it says in "Letters on Spain".
Get to know them, my dear fellow. If you were at all inclined to
be an Epicurean, I should really be afraid to let you go. But
those are not the objects with which you are going, are they?"

"I am going away," Nejdanov said, "to earn my living. And to get
away from you all," he added to himself.