"We are going out for the night with the beasts."

"Ah, what a night!" said Veslovsky, looking out at the edge of

the hut and the unharnessed wagonette that could be seen in the

faint light of the evening glow in the great frame of the open

doors. "But listen, there are women's voices singing, and, on my

word, not badly too. Who's that singing, my friend?"

"That's the maids from hard by here."

"Let's go, let's have a walk! We shan't go to sleep, you know.

Oblonsky, come along!"

"If one could only do both, lie here and go," answered Oblonsky,

stretching. "It's capital lying here."

"Well, I shall go by myself," said Veslovsky, getting up

eagerly, and putting on his shoes and stockings. "Good-bye,

gentlemen. If it's fun, I'll fetch you. You've treated me to

some good sport, and I won't forget you."

"He really is a capital fellow, isn't he?" said Stepan

Arkadyevitch, when Veslovsky had gone out and the peasant had

closed the door after him.

"Yes, capital," answered Levin, still thinking of the subject of

their conversation just before. It seemed to him that he had

clearly expressed his thoughts and feelings to the best of his

capacity, and yet both of them, straightforward men and not

fools, had said with one voice that he was comforting himself

with sophistries. This disconcerted him.

"It's just this, my dear boy. One must do one of two things:

either admit that the existing order of society is just, and then

stick up for one's rights in it; or acknowledge that you are

enjoying unjust privileges, as I do, and then enjoy them and be

satisfied."

"No, if it were unjust, you could not enjoy these advantages and

be satisfied--at least I could not. The great thing for me is

to feel that I'm not to blame."

"What do you say, why not go after all?" said Stepan

Arkadyevitch, evidently weary of the strain of thought. "We

shan't go to sleep, you know. Come, let's go!"

Levin did not answer. What they had said in the conversation,

that he acted justly only in a negative sense, absorbed his

thoughts. "Can it be that it's only possible to be just

negatively?" he was asking himself.

"How strong the smell of the fresh hay is, though," said Stepan

Arkadyevitch, getting up. "There's not a chance of sleeping.

Vassenka has been getting up some fun there. Do you hear the

laughing and his voice? Hadn't we better go? Come along!"




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