But as soon as he was settled in this position a moth flew over the table.

The lawyer, with a swiftness that could never have been expected of him, opened his hands, caught the moth, and resumed his former attitude.

"Before beginning to speak of my business," said Alexey Alexandrovitch, following the lawyer's movements with wondering eyes, "I ought to observe that the business about which I have to speak to you is to be strictly private.

" The lawyer's overhanging reddish mustaches were parted in a scarcely perceptible smile.