"What do you mean?"
"I mean that—well, how can I express it? That, whereas he was a wild bird, you and I are tame ones."
"I am a tame one?"
Katia nodded assent. Arkady scratched his ear.
"Look here," he said. "I may tell you that that constitutes, in essence, an insult."
"Why so? Do you want to be a wild bird?"
"Not necessarily a wild one, but at least one strong and energetic."
"You need wish no such thing. Your friend was both, yet he would rather have been otherwise.
"H'm! You believe that he used to exercise a considerable influence over Anna Sergievna?"
"Yes. But no one can hold a rein over her for long." Katia added this last sotto voce.