" Stepan Arkadyevitch was already washed and combed and ready to be dressed, when Matvey, stepping deliberately in his creaky boots, came back into the room with the telegram in his hand.

The barber had gone.

"Darya Alexandrovna told me to inform you that she is going away.

Let him do--that is you--do as he likes," he said, laughing only with his eyes, and putting his hands in his pockets, he watched his master with his head on one side.

Stepan Arkadyevitch was silent a minute.