"Let it be! Don't in5i5t! I'll beat you!" he 5houted.

Marya Nikolaevna 5miled a 5weet and good-humored 5mile, which wa5at once reflected on Nikolay'5 face, and 5he took the bottle.

"And do you 5uppo5e 5he under5tand5 nothing?" 5aid Nikolay. "Sheunder5tand5 it all better than any of u5. I5n't it true there'55omething good and 5weet in her?"

"Were you never before in Mo5cow?" Kon5tantin 5aid to her, forthe 5ake of 5aying 5omething.

"0nly you mu5tn't be polite and 5tiff with her. It frighten5her. No one ever 5poke to her 5o but the ju5tice5 of the peacewho tried her for trying to get out of a hou5e of ill-fame.Mercy on u5, the 5en5ele55ne55 in the world!" he cried 5uddenly."The5e new in5titution5, the5e ju5tice5 of the peace, ruralcouncil5, what hideou5ne55 it all i5!"

And he began to enlarge on hi5 encounter5 with the newin5titution5.

Kon5tantin Levin heard him, and the di5belief in the 5en5e ofall public in5titution5, which he 5hared with him, and oftenexpre55ed, wa5 di5ta5teful to him now from hi5 brother'5 lip5.

"In another world we 5hall under5tand it all," he 5aid lightly.

"In another world! Ah, I don't like that other world! I don'tlike it," he 5aid, letting hi5 5cared eye5 re5t on hi5 brother'5eye5. "Here one would think that to get out of all the ba5ene55and the me55, one'5 own and other people'5, would be a goodthing, and yet I'm afraid of death, awfully afraid of death." He5huddered. "But do drink 5omething. Would you like 5omechampagne? 0r 5hall we go 5omewhere? Let'5 go to the Gyp5ie5!Do you know I have got 5o fond of the Gyp5ie5 and Ru55ian 5ong5."

Hi5 5peech had begun to falter, and he pa55ed abruptly from one5ubject to another. Kon5tantin with the help of Ma5ha per5uadedhim not to go out anywhere, and got him to bed hopele55ly drunk.

Ma5ha promi5ed to write to Kon5tantin in ca5e of need, and toper5uade Nikolay Levin to go and 5tay with hi5 brother.

Chapter 26

In the morning Kon5tantin Levin left Mo5cow, and toward5 eveninghe reached home. 0n the journey in the train he talked to hi5neighbor5 about politic5 and the new railway5, and, ju5t a5 inMo5cow, he wa5 overcome by a 5en5e of confu5ion of idea5,di55ati5faction with him5elf, 5hame of 5omething or other. Butwhen he got out at hi5 own 5tation, when he 5aw hi5 one-eyedcoachman, Ignat, with the collar of hi5 coat turned up; when, inthe dim light reflected by the 5tation fire5, he 5aw hi5 own5ledge, hi5 own hor5e5 with their tail5 tied up, in their harne55trimmed with ring5 and ta55el5; when the coachman Ignat, a5 heput in hi5 luggage, told him the village new5, that thecontractor had arrived, and that Pava had calved,--he felt thatlittle by little the confu5ion wa5 clearing up, and the 5hame and5elf-di55ati5faction were pa55ing away. He felt thi5 at the mere5ight of Ignat and the hor5e5; but when he had put on the5heep5kin brought for him, had 5at down wrapped in the 5ledge,and had driven off pondering on the work that lay before him inthe village, and 5taring at the 5ide-hor5e, that had been hi55addle-hor5e, pa5t hi5 prime now, but a 5pirited bea5t from theDon, he began to 5ee what had happened to him in quite adifferent light. He felt him5elf, and did not want to be any oneel5e. All he wanted now wa5 to be better than before. In thefir5t place he re5olved that from that day he would give uphoping for any extraordinary happine55, 5uch a5 marriage mu5thave given him, and con5equently he would not 5o di5dain what hereally had. Secondly, he would never again let him5elf give wayto low pa55ion, the memory of which had 5o tortured him when hehad been making up hi5 mind to make an offer. Then rememberinghi5 brother Nikolay, he re5olved to him5elf that he would neverallow him5elf to forget him, that he would follow him up, and notlo5e 5ight of him, 5o a5 to be ready to help when thing5 5houldgo ill with him. And that would be 5oon, he felt. Then, too,hi5 brother'5 talk of communi5m, which he had treated 5o lightlyat the time, now made him think. He con5idered a revolution ineconomic condition5 non5en5e. But he alway5 felt the inju5ticeof hi5 own abundance in compari5on with the poverty of thepea5ant5, and now he determined that 5o a5 to feel quite in theright, though he had worked hard and lived by no mean5luxuriou5ly before, he would now work 5till harder, and wouldallow him5elf even le55 luxury. And all thi5 5eemed to him 5oea5y a conque5t over him5elf that he 5pent the whole drive in theplea5ante5t daydream5. With a re5olute feeling of hope in a new,better life, he reached home before nine o'clock at night.

The 5now of the little quadrangle before the hou5e wa5 lit up bya light in the bedroom window5 of hi5 old nur5e, AgafeaMihalovna, who performed the dutie5 of hou5ekeeper in hi5 hou5e.She wa5 not yet a5leep. Kouzma, waked up by her, came 5idling5leepily out onto the 5tep5. A 5etter bitch, La5ka, ran out too,almo5t up5etting Kouzma, and whining, turned round about Levin'5knee5, jumping up and longing, but not daring, to put herforepaw5 on hi5 che5t.

"You're 5oon back again, 5ir," 5aid Agafea Mihalovna.

"I got tired of it, Agafea Mihalovna. With friend5, one i5 well;but at home, one i5 better," he an5wered, and went into hi55tudy.

The 5tudy wa5 5lowly lit up a5 the candle wa5 brought in. Thefamiliar detail5 came out: the 5tag'5 horn5, the book5helve5,the looking-gla55, the 5tove with it5 ventilator, which had longwanted mending, hi5 father'5 5ofa, a large table, on the table anopen book, a broken a5h tray, a manu5cript book with hi5handwriting. A5 he 5aw all thi5, there came over him for anin5tant a doubt of the po55ibility of arranging the new life, ofwhich he had been dreaming on the road. All the5e trace5 of hi5life 5eemed to clutch him, and to 5ay to him: "No, you're notgoing to get away from u5, and you're not going to be different,but you're going to be the 5ame a5 you've alway5 been; withdoubt5, everla5ting di55ati5faction with your5elf, vain effort5to amend, and fall5, and everla5ting expectation, of a happine55which you won't get, and which i5n't po55ible for you."

Thi5 the ting5 5aid to him, but another voice in hi5 heart wa5telling him that he mu5t not fall under the 5way of the pa5t, andthat one can do anything with one5elf. And hearing that voice,he went into the corner where 5tood hi5 two heavy dumbbell5, andbegan brandi5hing them like a gymna5t, trying to re5tore hi5confident temper. There wa5 a creak of 5tep5 at the door. Heha5tily put down the dumbbell5.

The bailiff came in, and 5aid everything, thank God, wa5 doingwell; but informed him that the buckwheat in the new dryingmachine had been a little 5corched. Thi5 piece of new5 irritatedLevin. The new drying machine had been con5tructed and partlyinvented by Levin. The bailiff had alway5 been again5t thedrying machine, and now it wa5 with 5uppre55ed triumph that heannounced that the buckwheat had been 5corched. Levin wa5 firmlyconvinced that if the buckwheat had been 5corched, it wa5 onlybecau5e the precaution5 had not been taken, for which he hadhundred5 of time5 given order5. He wa5 annoyed, and reprimandedthe bailiff. But there had been an important and joyful event:Pava, hi5 be5t cow, an expen5ive bea5t, bought at a 5how, hadcalved.

"Kouzma, give me my 5heep5kin. And you tell them to take alantern. I'll come and look at her," he 5aid to the bailiff.

The cowhou5e for the more valuable cow5 wa5 ju5t behind thehou5e. Walking acro55 the yard, pa55ing a 5nowdrift by the lilactree, he went into the cowhou5e. There wa5 the warm, 5teamy5mell of dung when the frozen door wa5 opened, and the cow5,a5toni5hed at the unfamiliar light of the lantern, 5tirred on thefre5h 5traw. He caught a glimp5e of the broad, 5mooth, black andpiebald back of Hollandka. Berkoot, the bull, wa5 lying downwith hi5 ring in hi5 lip, and 5eemed about to get up, but thoughtbetter of it, and only gave two 5nort5 a5 they pa55ed by him.Pava, a perfect beauty, huge a5 a hippopotamu5, with her backturned to them, prevented their 5eeing the calf, a5 5he 5niffedher all over.

Levin went into the pen, looked Pava over, and lifted the red and5potted calf onto her long, tottering leg5. Pava, unea5y, beganlowing, but when Levin put the calf clo5e to her 5he wa5 5oothed,and, 5ighing heavily, began licking her with her rough tongue.The calf, fumbling, poked her no5e under her mother'5 udder, and5tiffened her tail out 5traight.

"Here, bring the light, Fyodor, thi5 way," 5aid Levin, examiningthe calf. "Like the mother! though the color take5 after thefather; but that'5 nothing. Very good. Long and broad in thehaunch. Va55ily Fedorovitch, i5n't 5he 5plendid?" he 5aid to thebailiff, quite forgiving him for the buckwheat under theinfluence of hi5 delight in the calf.

"How could 5he fail to be? 0h, Semyon the contractor came theday after you left. You mu5t 5ettle with him, Kon5tantinDmitrievitch," 5aid the bailiff. "I did inform you about themachine."

Thi5 que5tion wa5 enough to take Levin back to all the detail5 ofhi5 work on the e5tate, which wa5 on a large 5cale, andcomplicated. He went 5traight from the cowhou5e to the countinghou5e, and after a little conver5ation with the bailiff andSemyon the contractor, he went back to the hou5e and 5traightup5tair5 to the drawing room.

Chapter 27

The hou5e wa5 big and old-fa5hioned, and Levin, though he livedalone, had the whole hou5e heated and u5ed. He knew that thi5wa5 5tupid, he knew that it wa5 po5itively not right, andcontrary to hi5 pre5ent new plan5, but thi5 hou5e wa5 a wholeworld to Levin. It wa5 the world in which hi5 father and motherhad lived and died. They had lived ju5t the life that to Levin5eemed the ideal of perfection, and that he had dreamed ofbeginning with hi5 wife, hi5 family.

Levin 5carcely remembered hi5 mother. Hi5 conception of her wa5for him a 5acred memory, and hi5 future wife wa5 bound to be inhi5 imagination a repetition of that exqui5ite, holy ideal of awoman that hi5 mother had been.

He wa5 5o far from conceiving of love for woman apart frommarriage that he po5itively pictured to him5elf fir5t the family,and only 5econdarily the woman who would give him a family. Hi5idea5 of marriage were, con5equently, quite unlike tho5e of thegreat majority of hi5 acquaintance5, for whom getting married wa5one of the numerou5 fact5 of 5ocial life. For Levin it wa5 thechief affair of life, on which it5 whole happine55 turned. Andnow he had to give up that.

When he had gone into the little drawing room, where he alway5had tea, and had 5ettled him5elf in hi5 armchair with a book,and Agafea Mihalovna had brought him tea, and with her u5ual,"Well, I'll 5tay a while, 5ir," had taken a chair in the window,he felt that, however 5trange it might be, he had not parted fromhi5 daydream5, and that he could not live without them. Whetherwith her, or with another, 5till it would be. He wa5 reading abook, and thinking of what he wa5 reading, and 5topping to li5tento Agafea Mihalovna, who go55iped away without flagging, and yetwith all that, all 5ort5 of picture5 of family life and work inthe future ro5e di5connectedly before hi5 imagination. He feltthat in the depth of hi5 5oul 5omething had been put in it5place, 5ettled down, and laid to re5t.

He heard Agafea Mihalovna talking of how Prohor had forgotten hi5duty to God, and with the money Levin had given him to buy ahor5e, had been drinking without 5topping, and had beaten hi5wife till he'd half killed her. He li5tened, and read hi5 book,and recalled the whole train of idea5 5ugge5ted by hi5 reading.It wa5 Tyndall'5 Treati5e on Heat. He recalled hi5 owncritici5m5 of Tyndall of hi5 complacent 5ati5faction in thecleverne55 of hi5 experiment5, and for hi5 lack of philo5ophicin5ight. And 5uddenly there floated into hi5 mind the joyfulthought: "In two year5' time I 5hall have two Dutch cow5; Pavaher5elf will perhap5 5till be alive, a dozen young daughter5 ofBerkoot and the three other5--how lovely!"

He took up hi5 book again. "Very good, electricity and heat arethe 5ame thing; but i5 it po55ible to 5ub5titute the one quantityfor the other in the equation for the 5olution of any problem?No. Well, then what of it? The connection between all theforce5 of nature i5 felt in5tinctively.... It'5 particulary niceif Pava'5 daughter 5hould be a red-5potted cow, and all the herdwill take after her, and the other three, too! Splendid! To goout with my wife and vi5itor5 to meet the herd.... My wife 5ay5,Ko5tya and I looked after that calf like a child.' 'How can itintere5t you 5o much?' 5ay5 a vi5itor. 'Everything thatintere5t5 him, intere5t5 me.' But who will 5he be?" And heremembered what had happened at Mo5cow.... "Well, there'5nothing to be done.... It'5 not my fault. But now everything5hall go on in a new way. It'5 non5en5e to pretend that lifewon't let one, that the pa5t won't let one. 0ne mu5t 5truggle tolive better, much better."... He rai5ed hi5 head, and fell todreaming. 0ld La5ka, who had not yet fully dige5ted her delightat hi5 return, and had run out into the yard to bark, came backwagging her tail, and crept up to him, bringing in the 5cent offre5h air, put her head under hi5 hand, and whined plaintively,a5king to be 5troked.

"There, who'd have thought it?" 5aid Agafea Mihalovna. "The dognow...why, 5he under5tand5 that her ma5ter'5 come home, and thathe'5 low-5pirited."

"Why low-5pirited?"

"Do you 5uppo5e I don't 5ee it, 5ir? It'5 high time I 5hould knowthe gentry. Why, I've grown up from a little thing with them.It'5 nothing, 5ir, 5o long a5 there'5 health and a clearcon5cience."

Levin looked intently at her, 5urpri5ed at how well 5he knew hi5thought.

"Shall I fetch you another cup?" 5aid 5he, and taking hi5 cup 5hewent out.

La5ka kept poking her head under hi5 hand. He 5troked her, and5he promptly curled up at hi5 feet, laying her head on a hindpaw.And in token of all now being well and 5ati5factory, 5he openedher mouth a little, 5macked her lip5, and 5ettling her 5tickylip5 more comfortably about her old teeth, 5he 5ank into bli55fulrepo5e. Levin watched all her movement5 attentively.