'But has he been long in Russia? and how did he part from his comrades?'
'Ah, my boy, that's all on the shelf now. … The wind's changed, you see. … Madame Suhantchikov, Matrona Semyonovna, he simply kicked out. She went to Portugal in her grief.'
'To Portugal? How absurd!'
'Yes, brother, to Portugal, with two Matronovtsys.'
'With whom?'
'The Matronovtsys; that 's what the members of her party are called.'
'Matrona Semyonovna has a party of her own? And is it a numerous one?'
'Well, it consists of precisely those two. And he will soon have been back here six months. Others have got into difficulties, but he was all right. He lives in the country with his brother, and you should just hear him now. …'
'Bambaev!'
'Coming, Stepan Nikolaitch, coming. And you, dear old chap, are flourishing, enjoying yourself! Well, thank God for that! Where are you off to now? … There, I never thought, I never guessed … You remember Baden? Ah, that was a place to live in! By the way, you remember Bindasov too? Only fancy, he's dead. He turned exciseman, and was in a row in a public-house; he got his head
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