"Terrible! It is difficult to say whether the cruelty or the
absurdity is greater, but the one and the other seem to reach
their climax."
Nekhludoff thought all this, no longer listening to what was
going on, and he was horror-struck by that which was being
revealed to him. He could not understand why he had not been able
to see all this before, and why others were unable to see it.