"When she took him visiting with her, he could safely be allowed to touch an expensive book with illustrations - he wouldn’t tear it - and at the table he never pulled the fringe from the tablecloth or crumbled his cookies - a wonderful boy. They liked the way he entered, too, tugging down his jacket in a dignified manner, adjusting his bow tie or lace jabot, as yellowed as his grandmother’s cheeks; and clicking the heels of his flat feet, he would introduce himself to the old ladies using the old Russian “s” (a contraction for “sir”) at the end of his name. “Peter-s!” He noticed that amused and touched them."
— “Peters” from White Walls: Collected Stories, Tatyana Tolstaya
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