“All right, I’ll give it to you straight,” he said, correcting himself, “but please don’t blurt it out to anybody. I’m thinking of getting married, but I must tell you that the father and mother of the girl I have in mind have set their sights very high. It really is a burden: I regret getting involved, because they insist that the groom must have no fewer than three hundred souls, and since I need to find nearly another hundred and fifty—” “Well, you’re lying, you’re lying!” Nozdriov shouted again.
