means, among others, is in great vogue, 'is quite a favourite,' as the English say; a high official suddenly ceases to understand the simplest words, assuming total deafness. He will ask, for instance, What's to-day?'
He is respectfully informed, 'To-day's Friday, your Ex-s-s-s-lency.'
'Eh? What? What's that? What do you say?' the great man repeats with intense attention.
'To-day's Friday, your Ex—s—s—lency.'
'Eh? What? What's Friday? What Friday?'
'Friday, your Ex—s—s—s—lency, the day of the week.'
'What, do you pretend to teach me, eh?'
Matvy Ilyitch was a higher official all the same, though he was reckoned a liberal.
'I advise you, my dear boy, to go and call on the Governor,' he said to Arkady; 'you understand, I don't advise you to do so because I adhere to old-fashioned ideas of the necessity of paying respect to authorities, but simply because the Governor's a very decent fellow; besides, you probably want to make acquaintance with the society here.... You're not a bear, I hope? And he's giving a great ball the day after to-morrow.'
'Will you be at the ball?' inquired Arkady.
