"Ardalyon Borisitch, you happen to be in debt to me and therefore you've got to pay, and that I happen to be poor has nothing to do with the matter. I haven't yet come down to begging my bread off anyone, and as you know the only poor devil is the one that hasn't any bread to eat, and as I eat bread, and butter with it, that means I'm not poor."
And he became mollified and at the same time blushed with joy to think that he had answered so cleverly, and twisted his lips into a smile.
At last Peredonov and Volodin decided to go and fix up the match. They arranged themselves very elaborately and they had a solemn and more than usually stupid look. Peredonov put on a white stock. Volodin a vivid red tie with green stripes. Peredonov argued thus:
"As I am to do the match-making, mine is a sober role. I must live up to it. So I must wear a white tie, and you, the lover, should show your flaming feelings."
With intense solemnity Peredonov and Volodin seated themselves in the Adamenkos' drawing-room. Peredonov sat on a sofa and Volodin in an arm-chair. Nadezhda looked at her visitors in astonishment. The visitors talked about the weather and various bits of news, with the look of people who had come upon a delicate affair and did not know how to approach it. At last Peredonov coughed, frowned and began:
"Nadezhda Vassilyevna, we've come on business."
"On business," said Volodin, making a significant face; and he protruded his lips.
"It's about him," said Peredonov, and pointed at Volodin with his forefinger.
"It's about me," echoed Volodin, and pointed his own forefinger at his breast.