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He is never interested in what interests other people at any

given moment. He thinks very highly of himself and perhaps he is

right. Well, what more? I think your arrival will have a most

beneficial influence upon him."

"God grant it may," cried Pulcheria Alexandrovna, distressed by

Razumihin's account of her Rodya.

And Razumihin ventured to look more boldly at Avdotya Romanovna

at last. He glanced at her often while he was talking, but only

for a moment and looked away again at once. Avdotya Romanovna sat

at the table, listening attentively, then got up again and began

walking to and fro with her arms folded and her lips compressed,

occasionally putting in a question, without stopping her walk.

She had the same habit of not listening to what was said. She was

wearing a dress of thin dark stuff and she had a white

transparent scarf round her neck. Razumihin soon detected signs

of extreme poverty in their belongings. Had Avdotya Romanovna

been dressed like a queen, he felt that he would not be afraid of

her, but perhaps just because she was poorly dressed and that he

noticed all the misery of her surroundings, his heart was filled

with dread and he began to be afraid of every word he uttered,

every gesture he made, which was very trying for a man who

already felt diffident.