"There is indeed!" replied the visitor, slowly blinking his eyes and
pursing up his mouth. "Hm! . . . yes, indeed, there is a piece of news,
and very surprising news too. Lavretsky--Fedor Ivanitch is here."

"Fedya!" cried Marfa Timofyevna. "Are you sure you are not romancing,
my good man?"

"No, indeed, I saw him myself."

"Well, that does not prove it."

"Fedor Ivanitch looked much more robust," continued Gedeonovsky,
affecting not to have heard Marfa Timofyevna's last remark. "Fedor
Ivanitch is broader and has quite a colour."

"He looked more robust," said Marya Dmitrievna, dwelling on each
syllable. "I should have thought he had little enough to make him look
robust."

"Yes, indeed," observed Gedeonovsky; "any other man in Fedor Ivanitch's
position would have hesitated to appear in society."

"Why so, pray?" interposed Marfa Timofyevna. "What nonsense are you
talking! The man's come back to his home--where would you have him go?
And has he been to blame, I should like to know!"

"The husband is always to blame, madam, I venture to assure you, when a
wife misconducts herself."