" And Stepan Arkadyevitch got up and went down below to the new head of his department.

Instinct had not misled Stepan Arkadyevitch.

The terrible new head turned out to be an extremely amenable person, and Stepan Arkadyevitch lunched with him and stayed on, so that it was four o'clock before he got to Alexey Alexandrovitch.

Alexey Alexandrovitch, on coming back from church service, had spent the whole morning indoors.

He had two pieces of business before him that morning; first, to receive and send on a deputation from the native tribes which was on its way to Petersburg, and now at Moscow; secondly, to write the promised letter to the lawyer.