thinking Liza
was offended. I'm glad. I can tell you that I've brought you back your
favourite at last and handed her over to you; it's a weight off my
mind."

These venomous words were uttered with remarkable irritability. It was
evident that the "flabby" woman had prepared them and gloated beforehand
over the effect they would produce. But Varvara Petrovna was not the
woman to be disconcerted by sentimental effects and enigmas. She sternly
demanded the most precise and satisfactory explanations. Praskovya
Ivanovna immediately lowered her tone and even ended by dissolving into
tears and expressions of the warmest friendship. This irritable but
sentimental lady, like Stepan Trofimovitch, was for ever yearning for
true friendship, and her chief complaint against her daughter Lizaveta
Nikolaevna was just that "her daughter was not a friend to her."

But from all her explanations and outpourings nothing certain could be
gathered but that there actually had been some sort of quarrel between
Liza and Nikolay, but of the nature of the quarrel Praskovya Ivanovna
was obviously unable to form a definite idea. As for her imputations
against Darya Pavlovna, she not only withdrew them completely in the
end, but even particularly begged Varvara Petrovna to pay no attention
to her words, because "they had been said in irritation." In fact, it
had all been left very far from clear--suspicious, indeed. According to
her account the quarrel had arisen from Liza's "obstinate and ironical
character." "Nikolay Vsyevolodovitch is proud, too, and though he
was very much in love, yet he could not endure sarcasm, and began to be
sarcastic himself. Soon afterwards we made the acquaintance of a
young man, the nephew, I believe, of your 'Professor' and, indeed, the
surname's the same."

"The son, not the nephew," Varvara Petrovna corrected her.

Even in old days Praskovya Ivanovna had been always unable to recall
Stepan Trofimovitch's name, and had always called him the "Professor."

"Well, his son, then; so much the better. Of course, it's all the same
to me. An ordinary young man, very lively and free in his manners, but
nothing special in him. Well, then, Liza herself did wrong, she
made friends with the young man with the idea of making Nikolay
Vsyevolodovitch jealous. I don't see much harm in that; it's the way of
girls, quite usual, even charming in them. Only instead of being jealous
Nikolay Vsyevolodovitch made friends with the young