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Remarking at his first entrance the dazzling beauty of Avdotya

Romanovna, he endeavoured not to notice her at all during his

visit and addressed himself solely to Pulcheria Alexandrovna. All

this gave him extraordinary inward satisfaction. He declared that

he thought the invalid at this moment going on very

satisfactorily. According to his observations the patient's

illness was due partly to his unfortunate material surroundings

during the last few months, but it had partly also a moral

origin, "was, so to speak, the product of several material and

moral influences, anxieties, apprehensions, troubles, certain

ideas... and so on." Noticing stealthily that Avdotya Romanovna

was following his words with close attention, Zossimov allowed

himself to enlarge on this theme.