"Be quiet, won't you? Why do you sit here like two toads, poisoning the air with your breath? I've had enough."
In vain I wait for them to stop their slanders. I prepare to go home. And it's time, too. Past ten o'clock.
"I'll sit here a little longer," says Mikhail Fiodorovich, "if you give me leave, Ekaterina Vladimirovna?"
"You have my leave," Katy answers.
" Bene. In that case, order another bottle, please."
Together they escort me to the hall with candles in their hands. While I'm putting on my overcoat, Mikhail Fiodorovich says:
"You've grown terribly thin and old lately. Nicolai Stiepanovich. What's the matter with you? Ill?
"Yes, a little."
"And he will not look after himself," Katy puts in sternly.
"Why don't you look after yourself? How can you go on like this
