“What a man you have grown! I should hardly have known you,” said Tiet Nikonich, beaming with kindness and pleasure.
“He has grown very, very handsome,” said Paulina Karpovna Kritzki.
“You have not altered, Tiet Nikonich,” remarked Raisky. “You have hardly aged at all, and are as gay, as fresh, as kind and amiable....”
“Thank God! there is nothing worse than rheumatism the matter with me, and my digestion is no longer quite as good as it was. That is age, age. But how glad I am that you, our guest, have arrived in such good spirits. Tatiana Markovna was anxious about you. You will be staying here for some time?”
“Of course you will spend the summer with us,” said Paulina Karpovna. “Here is nature, and fine air, and so many people are interested in you.”
He looked at her askance, and said nothing.
“Do you remember me?” she asked. Boris’s aunt noticed with displeasure that Paulina Karpovna was ogling her nephew.
“Yes, impressions are quickly forgotten in the capital,” she said in a languishing tone. She looked him up and down and then added, “What an admirable travelling suit.”
“That reminds me I am still in my travelling clothes. Egor must be sent for and must take my clothes and linen out of the trunk. For you, Granny, and for you, my dear sisters, I have brought some small things for remembrance.”
“Granny, where are you going to put me up?”
“The house belongs to you. Where you will,” she returned coldly.
“Don’t be angry, Granny,” he laughed. “It won’t happen twice.”
“You may laugh, you may laugh, Boris Pavlovich. Here, in the presence of our guests, I tell you you have behaved badly. You have hardly put your nose inside the house, and straightway vanish. That is an insult to your Grandmother.”
“Surely, Granny, we shall be together every day. I have been visiting an old friend, and we forgot ourselves in talking.”
“Cousin Boris did not do it on purpose, Granny,” said Marfinka. “Leonti Ivanovich is so good.”
“Please be silent when you are not addressed. You are too young to contradict your Grandmother, who knows what she is saying.”
Smilingly Marfinka drew back into her corner.
“No doubt Juliana Andreevna was able to entertain you better, and knows better than I how to entertain a Petersburger. What friccassee did she give you?” asked his aunt, not without a little real curiosity.