“You are a gambler, I believe?”

“No, a poor sort of gambler. A card-sharper — not a gambler.”

“You have been a card-sharper then?”

“Yes, I’ve been a card-sharper too.”

“Didn’t you get thrashed sometimes?”

“It did happen. Why?”

“Why, you might have challenged them... altogether it must have been lively.”

“I won’t contradict you, and besides I am no hand at philosophy. I confess that I hastened here for the sake of the women.”

“As soon as you buried Marfa Petrovna?”