w, Katerina Sergyevna, every time I hear that answer I
disbelieve it.... There is no man that every one of us could not have
an opinion about! That's simply a way of getting out of it.'

'Well, I'll say, then, I don't.... It's not exactly that I don't like
him, but I feel that he's of a different order from me, and I am
different from him ... and you too are different from him.'

'How's that?'

'How can I tell you.... He's a wild animal, and you and I are tame.'

'Am I tame too?'

Katya nodded.

Arkady scratched his ear. 'Let me tell you, Katerina Sergyevna, do you
know, that's really an insult?'

'Why, would you like to be a wild----'

'Not wild, but strong, full of force.'

'It's no good wishing for that.... Your friend, you see, doesn't wish
for it, but he has it.'

'Hm! So you imagine he had a great influence on Anna Sergyevna?'

'Yes. But no one can keep the upper hand of her for long,' added Katya
in a low voice.

'Why do you think that?'

'She's very proud.... I didn't mean that ... she values her
independence a great deal.'

'Who doesn't value it?' asked Arkady, and the thought flashed through
his mind, 'What good is it?' 'What good is it?' it occurred to Katya to
wonder too. When young people are often together on friendly terms,
they are constantly stumbling on the same ideas.

Arkady smiled, and, coming slightly closer to Katya, he said in a
whisper, 'Confess that you are a little afraid of her.'

'Of whom?'

'Her,' repeated Arkady significantly.

'And how about you?' Katya asked in her turn.

'I am too, observe I said, I am _too_.'

Katya threatened him with her finger. 'I wonder at that,' she began;
'my sister has never felt so friendly to you as just now; much more so
than when you first came.'

'Really!'

'Why, haven't you noticed it? Aren't you glad of it?'

Arkady grew thoughtful.

'How have I succeeded in gaining Anna Sergyevna's good opinion? Wasn't
it because I brought her your mother's letters?'

'Both that and other causes, which I shan't tell you.'

'Why?'

'I shan't say.'

'Oh! I know; you're very obstinate.'

'Yes, I am.'

'And observant.'

Katya gave Arkady a sidelong look. 'Perhaps so; does that irritate you?
What are you thinking of?'

'I am wondering how you have come to be as observant as in fact you
are. You are so shy so reserved; you keep every one at a distance.'

'I have lived a great deal alone; that drives one to reflection. But do
I rea