XXVII
He likes putting difficult and malicious questions:
What do you think of yourself?
Do you love your wife?
Do you think my son, Leo, has talent?
How do you like Sophie Andreyevna?[1]
Once he asked: "Are you fond of me, Alexey Maximovitch?"
This is the maliciousness of a "bogatyr"[2]: Vaska Buslayev played such pranks in his youth, mischievous fellow. He is experimenting, all the time testing something, as if he were going to fight. It is interesting, but not much to my liking. He is the devil, and I am still a babe, and he should leave me alone.
[1] Tolstoi's wife.
[2] A hero in Russian legend, brave, but wild and self-willed like a child.