“Mentioned her, and in the most flattering terms. ‘Such a bust,’ he said, ‘such a glance, such hair! A sugar-plum,’ he said, ‘not a lady!’ and he began to laugh. They are both young people still.” (Here Timofèy Semyònych blew his nose loudly.) “And yet, you see, a young man, and what a career he’s made for himself!”
“Yes; but this is quite another case, Timofèy Semyònych.”
“Oh, of course, of course!”
“Well then, Timofèy Semyònych, how is it to be?”
“Why, what can I do?”
“Advise us, guide us, as a man of experience—as a parent! What shall we do? Go to the authorities, or——”
“To the authorities? On no account!” hastily exclaimed Timofèy Semyònych. “If you want my advice, I say the first thing is to hush up the matter, and act in the character of a private person. It is a suspicious case, an unheard of case. The worst is that it’s unheard of—there’s no precedent—indeed, it looks very bad. So that the first of all things is caution. Let him stop where he is a bit. He must have patience, patience!”
“But how can he stop there, Timofèy Semyònych? Supposing he chokes to death?”
“Why should he? Didn’t you tell me that he had made rather a comfortable arrangement for himself there?”
I repeated all over again. Timofèy Semyònych meditated.