'I am, of course, a poor judge of such matters,' continued Pigasov,
'but I must confess that to me even the title of the essay seems
excessively (how could I put it delicately?) excessively obscure and
complicated.'

'Why does it seem so to you?'

Pigasov smiled and looked across at Darya Mihailovna.

'Why, is it clear to you?' he said, turning his foxy face again
towards Rudin.

'To me? Yes.'

'H'm. No doubt you must know better.'

'Does your head ache?' Alexandra Pavlovna inquired of Darya
Mihailovna.

'No. It is only my--_c'est nerveux_.'

'Allow me to inquire,' Pigasov was beginning again in his nasal tones,
'your friend, his excellency Baron Muffel--I think that's his name?'

'Precisely.'

'Does his excellency Baron Muffel make a special study of political
economy, or does he only devote to that interesting subject the hours
of leisure left over from his social amusements and his official