Once he stopped it by shouting: "The white one, the white one!" This meant that Tikhon was not handing him the waistcoat he wanted.

Another time he interrupted, saying: "And will she soon be confined?" and shaking his head reproachfully said: "That's bad! Go on, go on.

" The third interruption came when Prince Andrew was finishing his description.

The old man began to sing, in the cracked voice of old age: "Malbrook s'en va-t-en guerre.