next year. …”
Pierre looked silently and searchingly into Prince Andréy’s face, which had grown much older.
“No, I meant to ask …” Pierre began, but Prince Andréy interrupted him.
“But why talk of me? … Talk to me, yes, tell me about your travels and all you have been doing on your estates.”
Pierre began describing what he had done on his estates, trying as far as possible to conceal his own part in the improvements that had been made. Prince Andréy several times prompted Pierre’s story of what he had been doing, as though it were all an old-time story, and he listened not only without interest but even as if ashamed of what Pierre was telling him.
Pierre felt uncomfortable and even depressed in his friend’s company and at last became silent.
“I’ll tell you what, my dear fellow,” said