Once the master pointed out a book to him that Dorimedont had brought; and while the student glanced through it, the old man told him something in a quick whisper.
"Interesting!" exclaimed the student, smiling amiably. "Ah, you old sinner, aren't you afraid, eh?"
The master sighed and answered:
"If you absolutely feel it's the truth, you ought to help it along in whatever little ways you can."
They whispered a long time. Finally the student said aloud:
"Well, then, agreed! Remember my address."
The old man took the address down on a piece of paper, and when Dorimedont came and asked, "Well, what's new, Matvey Matveyevich?" the master handed him the address, and said with a smile:
"There's the new thing."
"S-so—Nikodim Arkhangelsky," read Dorimedont. "That's business. We'll look up this Nikodim."
Sometime after, upon sitting down to play chess, he announced to the master: