only, as she put it, receiving intimate friends, i.e., those who

according to her idea stood out from the common herd.

Nekhludoff was admitted into the number of these friends because

he was considered clever, because his mother had been an intimate

friend of the family, and because it was desirable that Missy

Sophia Vasilievna's room lay beyond the large and the small

drawing-rooms. In the large drawing-room, Missy, who was in front

of Nekhludoff, stopped resolutely, and taking hold of the back of