Everyone shouted, talked, and kissed him at the same time.

Only his mother was not there, he noticed that.

"And I did not know... Nicholas... My darling!..." "Here he is... our own... Kolya,* dear fellow... How he has changed!... Where are the candles?... Tea!..." *Nicholas.

"And me, kiss me!" "Dearest... and me!" Sonya, Natasha, Petya, Anna Mikhaylovna, Vera, and the old count were all hugging him, and the serfs, men and maids, flocked into the room, exclaiming and oh-ing and ah-ing.

Petya, clinging to his legs, kept shouting, "And me too!" Natasha, after she had pulled him down toward her and covered his face with kisses, holding him tight by the skirt of his coat, sprang away and pranced up and down in one place like a goat and shrieked piercingly.