psychologist too in my own way, and a physiognomist. If I had not, I
will venture to say, been endowed with that gift, I should have come to
grief long ago; I should have stood no chance, a poor man like me. I
tell you without flattery, I am sincerely delighted at the friendship I
observe between you and my son. I have just seen him; he got up as he
usually does--no doubt you are aware of it--very early, and went a
ramble about the neighbourhood. Permit me to inquire--have you known my
son long?'

'Since last winter.'

'Indeed. And permit me to question you further--but hadn't we better
sit down? Permit me, as a father, to ask without reserve, What is your
opinion of my Yevgeny?'

'Your son is one of the most remarkable men I have ever met,' Arkady
answered emphatically.

Vassily Ivanovitch's eyes suddenly grew round, and his cheeks were
suffused with a faint flush. The spade fell out of his hand.

'And so you expect,' he began ...

'I'm convinced,' Arkady put in, 'that your son has a great future
before him; that he will do honour to your name. I've been certain of
that ever since I first met him.'

'How ... how was that?' Vassily Ivanovitch articulated with an effort.
His wide mouth was relaxed in a triumphant smile, which would not leave
it.

'Would you like me to tell you how we met?'

'Yes ... and altogether....'

Arkady began to tell his tale, and to talk of Bazarov with even greater
warmth, even greater enthusiasm than he had done on the evening when he
danced a mazurka with Madame Odintsov.

Vassily Ivanovitch listened and listened, blinked, and rolled his
handkerchief up into a ball in both his hands, cleared his throat,
ruffled up his hair, and at last could stand it no longer; he bent down
to Arkady and kissed him on his shoulder. 'You have made me perfectly
happy,' he said, never ceasing to smile. 'I ought to tell you, I ...
idolise my son; my old wife I won't speak of--we all know what mothers
are!--but I dare not show my feelings before him, because he doesn't
like it. He is averse to every kind of demonstration of feeling; many
people even find fault with him for such firmness of character, and
regard it as a proof of pride or lack of feeling, but men like him
ought not to be judged by the common standard, ought they? And here,
for example, many another fellow in his place would have been a
constant drag on his parents; but he, would you believe it? has never
from the day he was born taken