“I didn’t mean anybody, anybody at all. I meant myself,” the captain said, collapsing again.
“You seem to be very much offended by what I’ve said about you and your conduct? You are very irritable, Mr. Lebyadkin. But let me tell you I’ve hardly begun yet what I’ve got to say about your conduct, in its real sense. I’ll begin to discuss your conduct in its real sense. I shall begin, that may very well happen, but so far I’ve not begun, in a real sense.”
Lebyadkin started and stared wildly at Pyotr Stepanovitch.
“Pyotr Stepanovitch, I am just beginning to wake up.”
“H’m! And it’s I who have waked you up?”
“Yes, it’s you who have waked me, Pyotr Stepanovitch; and I’ve been asleep for the last four years with a storm-cloud hanging over me. May I withdraw at last, Pyotr Stepanovitch?”
“Now
