"i have waited for you with the greatest impatience (not that you were worth it). every night i have drenched my pillow with tears, not for you, my friend, not for you, don’t flatter yourself! i have my own grief, always the same, always the same. but i’ll tell you why i have been awaiting you so impatiently, because i believe that providence itself sent you to be a friend and a brother to me. i haven’t a friend in the world except princess bielokonski, and she is growing as stupid as a sheep from old age. now then, tell me, yes or no? do you know why she called out from her carriage the other night?"