CHAPTER VI
While Porfiry Vladimirych was holding forth in the entresol, grandmother Arina Petrovna had gathered the young folks around her downstairs, and was talking to them, not without the hope of getting something out of them.
"Well, how are you?" she asked, turned to her eldest grandson, Petenka.
"I'm pretty well, granny. Next month I'll graduate as an officer."
"Really? How many years have you been promising that? Are the examinations so hard? Or what?"
"At the last examination, granny, he failed in his catechism. The priest asked him, 'What is God?' and he answered, 'God is Spirit—is Spirit—and Holy Spirit.'"
"Oh, you poor thing! How is that? Look at those little orphans. I'm sure even they know that."
"Why, certainly. God is invisible Spirit." Anninka hurried to show off her knowledge.
"Whom none ever beheld," Lubinka put in.
"Omniscient, most Gracious, Omnipotent, Omnipresent," Anninka continued.