“Are you going to begin at once?” Mariana asked eagerly.
“Yes, I shall try, though in reality—”
“You are lucky!” Mariana interrupted him.
“This Pavel is a wonderful fellow,” Nejdanov continued. “He can see through and through you in a second, and will suddenly screw up his face as if he knew nothing, and would not interfere with anything for the world. He works for the cause himself, yet laughs at it the whole time. He brought me the books from Markelov; he knows him and calls him Sergai Mihailovitch; and as for Solomin, he would go through fire and water for him.”
“And so would Tatiana,” Mariana observed. “Why are people so devoted to him?”
Nejdanov did not reply.
“What sort of books did Pavel bring you?” Mariana asked.
“Oh, nothing new. ‘The Story of the Four Brothers,’ and then the ordinary, well-known ones, which are far better I think.”
Mariana looked around uneasily.
“I wonder what has become of Tatiana? She promised to come early.”