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"Aha, young man!" was the greeting with which he met him.

Alexey Alexandrovitch asserted and believed that he had never in

any previous year had so much official business as that year. But

he was not aware that he sought work for himself that year, that

this was one of the means for keeping shut that secret place

where lay hid his feelings towards his wife and son and his

thoughts about them, which became more terrible the longer they

lay there. If anyone had had the right to ask Alexey

Alexandrovitch what he thought of his wife's behavior, the mild

and peaceable Alexey Alexandrovitch would have made no answer,

but he would have been greatly angered with any man who should

question him on that subject. For this reason there positively

came into Alexey Alexandrovitch's face a look of haughtiness and

severity whenever anyone inquired after his wife's health. Alexey

Alexandrovitch did not want to think at all about his wife's

behavior, and he actually succeeded in not thinking about it at

all.