“Why, I was told that you were locked up?” he said aloud, addressing Stepan Trofimovitch before everyone else.

“No, it was a case of unlocking,” jested Stepan Trofimovitch.

“But I hope that what’s happened will have no influence on what I asked you to do,” Yulia Mihailovna put in again. “I trust that you will not let this unfortunate annoyance, of which I had no idea, lead you to disappoint our eager expectations and deprive us of the enjoyment of hearing your reading at our literary matinée.”

“I don’t know, I⁠ ⁠… now⁠ ⁠…”

“Really, I am so unlucky, Varvara Petrovna⁠ ⁠… and only fancy, just when I was so longing to make the personal acquaintance of one of the most remarkable and independent intellects of Russia⁠—and here Stepan Trofimovitch suddenly talks of deserting us.”