'C'est moi, n'est-ce pas?' [It's I, is it not?] And having received an answer in the affirmative, Oblonsky – forgetting the request he had wanted to make to Lydia Ivanovna, forgetting his sister's affairs, and with the one desire to get away from there as quickly as possible – went out on tiptoe, and ran out into the street as from an infected house. After which he talked and joked for a long time with an izvoshchik, trying to regain his senses as soon as possible.
— C’est moi, n’est-pas? — E, ricevutane risposta affermativa, Stepan Arkad’ic, dimentico anche di quello che voleva chiedere a Lidija Ivanovna, dimentico dell’affare della sorella, col solo desiderio di andar via di là al più presto, uscì in punta di piedi e corse fuori in istrada come da una casa infestata, e discorse e scherzò a lungo con i vetturini, desiderando di riprendere i sensi al più presto.