all this would have been perfectly sincere on his part. he had never for a moment entertained the idea of the possibility of this girl loving him, or even of such a thing as himself falling in love with her. the possibility of being loved himself, "a man like me," as he put it, he ranked among ridiculous suppositions. it appeared to him that it was simply a joke on aglaya’s part, if there really were anything in it at all; but that seemed to him quite natural. his preoccupation was caused by something different.