"It is always so," commented Vasili with a resentment equal to the last speaker's. "Yes, no sooner, with us, does a man accumulate a little money than he sticks his nose in the air, and falls to thinking himself a real barin."
"Why is it that you always say 'With us,' and 'Among us,' and so on?"
"Among us Russians, then, if you like it better."
"I do like it better. For you are not a German, are you, nor a Tartar?"
"No. It is merely that I can see the faults in our Russian folk."
Upon that (not for the first time) the pair plunged into a discussion which had come so to weary them that now they spoke only indifferently, without effort.
"The word 'faults' is, I consider, an insult," began the ex-soldier as he puffed at his pipe. "Besides, you don't speak consistently. Only this moment I observed a change in your terms."
"To what?"
"To the term 'Russians.'"
"What should you prefer?"