hey would never be formally
used against him. This unkind action much surprised poor Ardalion
Alexandrovitch, the victim, as he called himself, of an "unbounded trust
in the nobility of the human heart."

When he signed those notes of hand he never dreamt that they would be a
source of future trouble. The event showed that he was mistaken. "Trust
in anyone after this! Have the least confidence in man or woman!" he
cried in bitter tones, as he sat with his new friends in prison, and
recounted to them his favourite stories of the siege of Kars, and the
resuscitated soldier. On the whole, he accommodated himself very well
to his new position. Ptitsin and Varia declared that he was in the right
place, and Gania was of the same opinion. The only person who deplored
his fate was poor Nina Alexandrovna, who wept bitter tears over him,
to the great surprise of her household, and, though always in feeble
health, made a point of going to see him as often as possible.

Since the general's "mishap," as Colia called it, and the marriage of
his sister, the boy had quietly possessed himself of far more freedom.
His relations saw little of him, for he rarely slept at home. He made
many new friends; and was moreover, a frequent visitor at the debtor's
prison, to which he invariably accompanied his mother. Varia, who used
to be always correcting him, never spoke to him now on the subject of
his frequent absences, and the whole household was surprised to see
Gania, in spite of his depression, on quite friendly terms with his
brother. This was something new, for Gania had been wont to look upon
Colia as a kind of errand-boy, treating him with contempt, threatening
to "pull his ears," and in general driving him almost wild with
irritation. It seemed now that Gania really needed his brother, and the
latter, for his part, felt as if he could forgive Gania much since he
had returned the hundred thousand roubles offered to him by Nastasia
Philipovna. Three months after the departure of the prince, the Ivolgin
family discovered that Colia had made acquaintance with the Epanchins,
and was on very friendly terms with the daughters. Varia heard of it
first, though Colia had not asked her to introduce him. Little by little
the family grew quite fond of him. Madame Epanchin at first looked on
him with disdain, and received him coldly, but in a short time he
grew to please her, because, as she said, he "was candid and no
flatterer"----a very true des