“I am not unaccountable, I am simply⁠ ⁠… nothing but annoyances,” he muttered, frowning but without anger, and sitting down to the table. “Sit down and say what you have to say. It’s a long time since I’ve seen you, Pyotr Stepanovitch, only don’t burst upon me in the future with such manners⁠ ⁠… sometimes, when one has business, it’s⁠ ⁠…”

“My manners are always the same.⁠ ⁠…”

“I know, and I believe that you mean nothing by it, but sometimes one is worried.⁠ ⁠… Sit down.”

Pyotr Stepanovitch immediately lolled back on the sofa and drew his legs under him.

“What sort of worries? Surely not these trifles?” He nodded towards the manifesto. “I can bring you as many of them as you like; I made their acquaintance in X province.”

“You mean at the time you were staying there?”