“Ha ha, an old acquaintance again,” Pyotr Stepanovitch interrupted, pouncing on another document that lay under a paperweight, something like a manifesto, obviously printed abroad and in verse. “Oh, come, I know this one by heart, ‘ A Noble Personality .’ Let me have a look at it⁠—yes, ‘ A Noble Personality ’ it is. I made acquaintance with that personality abroad. Where did you unearth it?”

“You say you’ve seen it abroad?” Von Lembke said eagerly.

“I should think so, four months ago, or may be five.”

“You seem to have seen a great deal abroad.” Von Lembke looked at him subtly.

Pyotr Stepanovitch, not heeding him, unfolded the document and read the poem aloud: