“You hear, Tatiana Markovna.”
“Boris Pavlovich, Borushka,” she said, seeking to restrain him.
“That old fashion-plate, that frivolous, dangerous woman!”
“What do her faults matter to you. Who gave you the right to judge other people?”
“Who gave you the right, young man, to reproach me? Do you know that I have been in the service for forty years, and that no minister has ever made the slightest criticism to me.”
“My right is that you have insulted a lady in my house. I should be a miserable creature to permit that. If you don’t understand that, the worse for you.”
“If you receive a person who is, to the knowledge of the whole town, a frivolous butterfly, dressing in a way unsuited to her age, and leaving unfulfilled her duties to her family....”
“Well, what then?”
“Then both you and Tatiana Markovna deserve to hear the truth. Yes, I have been meaning to tell you for a long time, Matushka.”
“Frivolity, flightiness and the desire to please are not such terrible crimes. But the whole town knows that you have accumulated money through bribery that you robbed your own nieces and had them locked up in an asylum. Yet my Grandmother and I have received you in our house, and you take it upon yourself to lecture us.”