and gnashed my teeth and asked weakly such questions as:
"Where am I? What is the matter with me?"
Even that absurd French phrase "Where am I?" succeeded with this folk, and not less than three imbeciles made haste to say:
"At the Kurganoffs." Then in a sweetened voice: "Do you know, dear doctor, who is Irene Pavlovna Kurganoff?"
Seriously, they were too petty for big play!
After a day—having given sufficient time for reports to reach the Saveloffs—I talked with Tatiana Nikolayevna and Alexis. The latter dismissed the matter with a single question:
"What was that rumpus you raised at the Kurganoffs?"
Saying this, he turned on his heels and entered his working chamber—from which I gathered that if I had become actually mad he wouldn't have choked himself on account of it. To make up for it, his spouse proved
