" Stremov and Liza Merkalova, why, they're the cream of the cream of society.

Besides, they're received everywhere, and _I_"--she laid special stress on the I--"have never been strict and intolerant.

It's simply that I haven't the time.

" "No; you don't care, perhaps, to meet Stremov? Let him and Alexey Alexandrovitch tilt at each other in the committee-- that's no affair of ours.

But in the world, he's the most amiable man I know, and a devoted croquet player.