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\u201cWhat do you do at his place? What do you and he talk about?\u201d asked Stolz. \u201cYou know, it\u2019s so proper and cozy at his place. The rooms are small and the sofas are so deep, you sink so far down no one can see you. The windows are quite covered with ivy and cactus, and he has more than a dozen canaries and three dogs, such good ones! He always has something to eat on the table. The engravings all depict family scenes. You come and you never want to leave. You sit there without a care or thought in the world, and you know there\u2019s someone nearby. Naturally, he\u2019s not smart, and there\u2019s no exchanging ideas with him or thinking, but on the other hand he\u2019s not crafty but good and kind, and he has no pretensions and won\u2019t stab you in the back!\u201d. \u201cBut what do you do?\u201d \u201cDo? Well, I arrive and we sit opposite each other on sofas with our feet up, and he smokes.\u201d \u201cWhat about you?\u201d \u201dI smoke, too, and listen to the canary trilling. Then Marfa brings in the samovar.\u201d(An excerpt from 'Oblomov' (1859), by Ivan Goncharov. Translation by Marian Schwartz (2008)). Listen in...