In the first moment of conversation with him, you could not help but say, ‘What a pleasant and kind-hearted man!’ The second moment you would say nothing, and the third you would say, ‘The Devil only knows what sort of man he is!’ and you would move as far away from him as you could; if you didn’t move away, you would experience a feeling of deadly boredom. You would wait in vain for any lively or even arrogant word, such as you might hear from almost anyone else if you broached some subject that touched him to the heart.
