‘I only know—’ faltered Miss Petowker,—‘it may be no rule to be sure—but I have never found any inconvenience or unpleasantness of that sort.’

‘Yes, he is, sir,’ replied the fat clerk, turning his spectacle–glasses towards his principal, and his eyes towards Nicholas, ‘but Mr Trimmers is with him.’

After a while "Uncle" came in, in a Cossack coat, blue trousers, and small top boots. And Natasha felt that this costume, the very one she had regarded with surprise and amusement at Otradnoe, was just the right thing and not at all worse than a swallow-tail or frock coat. "Uncle" too was in high spirits and far from being offended by the brother`s and sister`s laughter (it could never enter his head that they might be laughing at his way of life) he himself joined in the merriment.