“I was wanted, or you may be sure I’d have been there.⁠ ⁠… The day before yesterday all your lot came to see me.”

“Who did?”

“Maryashka came, Havroshka came, Tchekunda came, Twopenny-halfpenny came.”

“What does it mean?” I asked Akim Akimitch. “Is it possible?”

“It does happen,” he answered, dropping his eyes discreetly, for he was an extremely chaste man.