not died out. He had been very
stout and lofty of stature, swarthy of visage, and beardless; he lisped,
and appeared to be sleepy; but the more softly he spoke, the more did
every one around him tremble. He obtained for himself a wife to match.
Goggle-eyed, with hawk-like nose, with a round, sallow face, a gipsy by
birth, quick-tempered and revengeful, she was not a whit behind her
husband, who almost starved her to death, and whom she did not survive,
although she was eternally snarling at him.

Andrei's son, Piotr, Feodor's grandfather, did not resemble his
father: he was a simple squire of the steppes, decidedly hare-brained, a
swashbuckler and dawdler, rough but not malicious, hospitable, and fond
of dogs. He was more than thirty years old when he inherited from his
father two thousand souls in capital order; but he speedily dispersed
them, sold a part of his estate, and spoiled his house-servants. Petty
little people, acquaintances and non-acquaintances, crawled from all
sides, like black-beetles, to his spacious, warm, and slovenly mansion;
all these ate whatever came to hand, but ate their fill, drank themselves
drunk, and carried off what they could, lauding and magnifying the
amiable host; and the host, when he was not in a good humour, also
magnified his guests--as drones and blackguards--but he was bored without
them. Piotr Andreitch's wife was a meek person: he took her from a
neighbouring family, at his father's choice and command; her name was
Anna Pavlovna. She never interfered with anything, received visitors
cordially, and was fond of going out herself, although powdering her
hair, according to her own words, was death to her. They put a felt hood
on your head, she was wont to narrate in her old age, combed your hair
all up on top, smeared it with tallow, sprinkled on flour, stuck in iron
pins,--and you could not wash yourself afterward; but to go visiting
without powder was impossible--people would take offence;--torture!--She
was fond of driving after trotters, was ready to play cards from morning
until night, and always covered up with her hand the few farthings of
winnings set down to her when her husband approached the card-table; but
she gave her dowry and all her money to him, and required no accounting
for its use. She bore him two children: a son, Ivan, Feodor's father,
and a daughter, Glafira.

Ivan was not brought up at home, but at the house of a wealthy old aunt,
Princess Kubenskoy; she ha