A family of noblemen

by Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov

"Still, I suppose, it was better at home. You had friends, went visiting, played."

"Ah, what's the use!"

"And here with uncle. He says such dull things and he is so long-winded. Is he always like that?"

"Always, all day long the same way."

"And it doesn't bore you?"

"Why should it? I don't listen to him."

"But it's impossible not to listen at all. He may notice it and become offended."

"How can he tell? I look at him. He keeps on talking and I keep on looking and at the same time I think my own thoughts."

"What do you generally think about?"

"Different things. If I have to pickle gherkins, I think about gherkins. If I have to send someone to town, I think about town. Whatever the household needs, that's what I think about."