On the woman question he was on the side of the extreme advocates

of complete liberty for women, and especially their right to

labor. But he lived with his wife on such terms that their

affectionate childless home life was the admiration of everyone,

and arranged his wife's life so that she did nothing and could do

nothing but share her husband's efforts that her time should pass

as happily and as agreeably as possible.

If it had not been a characteristic of Levin's to put the most

favorable interpretation on people, Sviazhsky's character would

have presented no doubt or difficulty to him: he would have said

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to himself, "a fool or a knave," and everything would have seemed

clear. But he could not say "a fool," because Sviazhsky was

unmistakably clever, and moreover, a highly cultivated man, who

was exceptionally modest over his culture. There was not a

subject he knew nothing of. But he did not display his knowledge

except when he was compelled to do so. Still less could Levin

say that he was a knave, as Sviazhsky was unmistakably an honest,

good-hearted, sensible man, who worked good-humoredly, keenly,

and perseveringly at his work; he was held in high honor by

everyone about him, and certainly he had never consciously done,

and was indeed incapable of doing, anything base.

Levin tried to understand him, and could not understand him, and

looked at him and his life as at a living enigma.

Levin and he were very friendly, and so Levin used to venture to

sound Sviazhsky, to try to get at the very foundation of his view

of life; but it was always in vain. Every time Levin tried to

penetrate beyond the outer chambers of Sviazhsky's mind, which

were hospitably open to all, he noticed that Sviazhsky was

slightly disconcerted; faint signs of alarm were visible in his

eyes, as though he were afraid Levin would understand him, and he

would give him a kindly, good-humored repulse.

Just now, since his disenchantment with farming, Levin was

particularly glad to stay with Sviazhsky. Apart from the fact

that the sight of this happy and affectionate couple, so pleased

with themselves and everyone else, and their well-ordered home

had always a cheering effect on Levin, he felt a longing, now

that he was so dissatisfied with his own life, to get at that

secret in Sviazhsky that gave him such clearness, definiteness,

and good courage in life. Moreover, Levin knew that at

Sviazhsky's he should meet the landowners of the neighborhood,

and it was particularly interesting for him just now to hear and

take part in those rural conversations concerning crops,

laborers' wages, and so on, which, he was aware, are

conventionally regarded as something very low, but which seemed

to him just now to constitute the one subject of importance. "It

was not, perhaps, of importance in the days of serfdom, and it

may not be of importance in England. In both cases the

conditions of agriculture are firmly established; but among us

now, when everything has been turned upside down and is only just

taking shape, the question what form these conditions will take

is the one question of importance in Russia," thought Levin.




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