F. in the town-hall: Serguey Nik. in a plaintive voice: "Gentlemen, where can we get the means? Our town is poor." * * * * * To be idle involuntarily means to listen to what is being said, to see what is being done; but he who works and is occupied hears little and sees little. * * * * * In the skating rink he raced after L.; he wanted to overtake her and it seemed as if it were life which he wanted to overtake, that life which one cannot bring back or overtake or catch, just as one cannot catch one's shadow. * * * * * Only one thought reconciled him to the doctor: just as he had suffered from the doctor's ignorance, so perhaps some one was suffering from his mistakes. * * * * * But isn't it strange? In the whole town there is not a single musician, not a single orator, not a prominent man. * * * * * Honorable Justice of the Peace, Honorable Member of the Children's Shelter--all honorable. * * * * * L. studied and studied--but people who had finished developing could not understand her, nor could the young. _Ut consecutivum_. * * * * * He is dark, with little side-whiskers, dressed like a dandy, dark eyes, a warm brunet. He exterminates bugs, talks about earthquakes and China. His fiancée has a dowry of 8,000 roubles; she is very handsome, as her aunt says. He is an agent for a fire-insurance company, etc. "You're awfully pretty, my darling, awfully. And 8,000 into the bargain! You are a beauty; when I looked at you to-day, a shiver ran down my back." * * * * * _He_: Earthquakes are caused by the evaporation of water. * * * * * Names: Goose, Pan, Oyster. "Were I abroad, they would give me a medal for such a surname." * * * * * I can't be said to be handsome, but I am rather pretty.