"i am very glad, too, because she is often laughed at by people. but listen to the chief point. i have long thought over the matter, and at last i have chosen you. i don’t wish people to laugh at me; i don’t wish people to think me a ‘little fool.’ i don’t want to be chaffed. i felt all this of a sudden, and i refused evgenie pavlovitch flatly, because i am not going to be forever thrown at people’s heads to be married. i want i want well, i’ll tell you, i wish to run away from home, and i have chosen you to help me."