He slowly came in and sat down beside me. ‘I have come to you,’ he began in a rather thick voice, ‘because you care more for me than any of the others do…. I have lost my best friend’—his voice shook a little—’and I feel lonely…. None of you knew Gavrilov … none of you knew….’ He got up, paced up and down the room, came rapidly towards me again…. ‘Will you take his place?’ he said, and gave me his hand. I leaped up and flung myself on his breast. My genuine delight touched him…. I did not know what to say, I was choking…. Kolosov looked at me and softly laughed. We had tea. At tea he talked of Gavrilov; I heard that that timid, gentle boy had saved Kolosov’s life, and I could not but own to myself that in Gavrilov’s place I couldn’t have resisted chattering about it—boasting of my luck. It
