In death, of which they talked to him so often, Seryozha disbelieved entirely.

He did not believe that those he loved could die, above all that he himself would die.

That was to him something utterly inconceivable and impossible.

But he had been told that all men die; he had asked people, indeed, whom he trusted, and they too, had confirmed it; his old nurse, too, said the same, though reluctantly.