prove to you that my shyness is not the result of conceit."

"You can prove it as we go along."

"But I have told you that I am NOT going."

"Well, then, stay here and prove it to the DIPLOMAT, and he can tell us
all about it when we return."

"Yes, that's what I WILL do," said Nechludoff with boyish obstinacy, "so
hurry up with your return."

"Well, do you think I am egotistic?" he continued, seating himself
beside me.

True, I had a definite opinion on the subject, but I felt so taken aback
by this unexpected question that at first I could make no reply.

"Yes, I DO think so," I said at length in a faltering voice, and
colouring at the thought that at last the moment had come when I could
show him that I was clever. "I think that EVERYBODY is egotistic, and
that everything we do is done out of egotism."

"But what do you call egotism?" asked Nechludoff--smiling, as I thought,
a little contemptuously.

"Egotism is a conviction that we are better and cleverer than any one
else," I replied.

"But how can we ALL be filled with this conviction?" he inquired.