drawing, room; I waited a minute--she came
in; she made me sit down and sat down herself, opposite. I sat down, and
I couldn't believe it; you know how she has always treated me. She
began at once without beating about the bush, you know her way. 'You
remember,' she said, 'that four years ago when Nikolay Vsyevolodovitch
was ill he did some strange things which made all the town wonder
till the position was explained. One of those actions concerned you
personally. When Nikolay Vsyevolodovitch recovered he went at my request
to call on you. I know that he talked to you several times before, too.
Tell me openly and candidly what you... (she faltered a little at this
point) what you thought of Nikolay Vsyevolodovitch then... what was your
view of him altogether... what idea you were able to form of him at that
time... and still have?'

"Here she was completely confused, so that she paused for a whole
minute, and suddenly flushed. I was alarmed. She began again--touchingly
is not quite the word, it's not applicable to her--but in a very
impressive tone:

"'I want you,' she said, 'to understand me clearly and without mistake.
I've sent for you now because I look upon you as a keen-sighted and
quick-witted man, qualified to make accurate observations.' (What
compliments!) 'You'll understand too,' she said, 'that I am a mother
appealing to you.... Nikolay Vsyevolodovitch has suffered some
calamities and has passed through many changes of fortune in his life.
All that,' she said, 'might well have affected the state of his mind.
I'm not speaking of madness, of course,' she said, 'that's quite out
of the question!' (This was uttered proudly and resolutely.) 'But there
might be something strange, something peculiar, some turn of thought, a
tendency to some particular way of looking at things.' (Those were her
exact words, and I admired, Stepan Trofimovitch, the exactness with
which Varvara Petrovna can put things. She's a lady of superior
intellect!) 'I have noticed in him, anyway,' she said, 'a perpetual
restlessness and a tendency to peculiar impulses. But I am a mother
and you are an impartial spectator, and therefore qualified with your
intelligence to form a more impartial opinion. I implore you, in fact'
(yes, that word, 'implore' was uttered!), 'to tell me the whole truth,
without mincing matters. And if you will give me your word never to
forget that I have spoken to you in confidence, you may reckon upon my
always bein