_Il est si distingue_. What are you thinking of, African Semenitch?'

'I thought,' began African Semenitch slowly, 'that there are three
kinds of egoists; the egoists who live themselves and let others live;
the egoists who live themselves and don't let others live; and the
egoists who don't live themselves and don't let others live. Women,
for the most part, belong to the third class.'

'That's polite! I am very much astonished at one thing, African
Semenitch; your confidence in your convictions; of course you can
never be mistaken.'

'Who says so? I make mistakes; a man, too, may be mistaken. But do you
know the difference between a man's mistakes and a woman's? Don't you
know? Well, here it is; a man may say, for example, that twice two
makes not four, but five, or three and a half; but a woman will say
that twice two makes a wax candle.'

'I fancy I've heard you say that before. But allow me to ask what
connection had your idea of the three kinds of egoists with the music
you have just been hearing?'

'None at all, but I did not listen to the music.'

'Well, "incurable I see you are, and that is all about it,"' answered
Darya Mihailovna, slightly altering Griboyedov's line. 'What do you
like, since you don't care for music? Literature?'

'I like literature, only not our contemporary literature.'