"Yes."

"It's she who has sent the bread. She is absurd really, what is the
use of being so secret? I used to be absurd and foolish, but now I
have got away from that and am afraid of nobody. I think and say
aloud what I like, and am happy. When I lived at home I hadn't a
conception of happiness, and now I wouldn't change with a queen."

Dr. Blagovo arrived. He had taken his doctor's degree, and was now
staying in our town with his father; he was taking a rest, and said
that he would soon go back to Petersburg again. He wanted to study
anti-toxins against typhus, and, I believe, cholera; he wanted to
go abroad to perfect his training, and then to be appointed a
professor. He had already left the army service, and wore a roomy
serge reefer jacket, very full trousers, and magnificent neckties.
My sister was in ecstasies over his scarfpin, his studs, and the
red silk handkerchief which he wore, I suppose from foppishness,
sticking out of the breast pocket of his jacket. One day, having
nothing to do, she and I counted up all the suits we remembered him
wearing, and came to the conclusion that he had at least ten. It
was clear that he still loved my sister as before, but he never
once even in jest spoke of taking her with him to Petersburg or
abroad, and I could not picture to myself clearly what would become
of her if she remained alive and what would become of her child.
She did nothing but dream endlessly, and never thought seriously
of the future; she said he might go where he liked, and might abandon
her even, so long as he was happy himself; that what had been was
enough for her.

As a rule he used to sound her very carefully on his arrival, and