And such thoughts, light and inconsequential, which enter only a tired and resting brain, wandered about in Yevgéniï Petróvitch's head; they spring no one knows where or why, vanish soon, and, it would seem, wander only on the outskirts of the brain without penetrating far. For men who are obliged for whole hours, even for whole days, to think official thoughts all in the same direction, such free, domestic speculations are an agreeable comfort.
It was nine o'clock. Overhead from the second story came the footfalls of someone walking from corner to corner; and still higher, on the third story, someone was playing scales. The footsteps of the man who, judging by his walk, was thinking tensely or suffering from toothache, and the monotonous scales in the evening stillness, combined to create a drowsy atmosphere favourable to idle thoughts. From the nursery came the voices of Serózha and his governess.
"Papa has come?" cried the boy, "Papa has co-o-me! Papa! papa!"
"Votre père vous appelle, allez vite," cried the governess, piping like a frightened bird.... "Do you hear?"
"What shall I say to him?" thought Yevgéniï Petróvitch.
And before he had decided what to say, in came his son Serózha, a boy of seven years old. He was one of those little boys whose sex can be distinguished only by their clothes—weakly, pale-faced, delicate.... Everything about him seemed tender and soft; his movements, his curly hair, his looks, his velvet jacket.
"Good evening, papa," he began in a soft voice, climbing on his father's knee, and kissing his neck. "You wanted me?"
"Wait a minute, wait a minute, Sergéï Yevgénitch," answered the Procuror, pushing him off. "Before I allow you to kiss me I want to talk to you, and to talk seriously.... I am very angry with you, and do not love you any more ... understand that, brother; I do not love you, and you are not my son.... No!"
Serózha looked earnestly at his father, turned his eyes on to the chair, and shrugged his shoulders.
"What have I done?" he asked in doubt, twitching his eyes. "I have not been in your study all day and touched nothing."