'And you? Don't I love you?' she said, and she flicked me on the nose with the tip of her glove.
Yes, Zinaida amused herself hugely at my expense.
For three weeks I saw her every day, and what didn't she do with me! She rarely came to see us, and I was not sorry for it; in our house she was transformed into a young lady, a young princess, and I was a little overawed by her.
I was afraid of betraying myself before my mother; she had taken a great dislike to Zinaida, and kept a hostile eye upon us.
My father I was not so much afraid of; he seemed not to notice me.
He talked little to her, but always with special cleverness and significance.
I gave up working and reading; I even gave up walking about the neighbourhood and riding my horse.
Like a beetle tied by the leg, I moved continually round and round my beloved little lodge.
I would gladly have stopped there altogether, it seemed ... but that was impossible.
My mother scolded me, and sometimes Zinaida herself drove me away.