they are very kind and the children, too, often come to see me.”
“They all stammer, don’t they?”
“Yes. … He stammers and he’s lame. And his wife, too. … It’s not exactly that she stammers, but she can’t speak plainly. She is a very kind woman. And he used to be a house serf. And there are seven children … and it’s only the eldest one that stammers and the others are simply ill … but they don’t stammer. … But where did you hear about them?” she added with some surprise.
“Your father told me, then. He told me all about you. … And how you went out at six o’clock and came back at nine and how Katerina Ivanovna knelt down by your bed.”
Sonia was confused.
“I fancied I saw him