Actually, she looked more like the hairless cat his aunt Ludmilla had favored more than any of her children, but that seemed an impolitic thing to say to a lady.
“I can’t sleep.” “We could play cards,” suggested Nikolai. “I’ve been working on a new poem—” “Or we could shoot ourselves out of a cannon.” Tolya’s glower was ferocious. “A bit of culture wouldn’t hurt you.”