masterly, and the fidelity to actual conditions is scrupulous.
The tale is a moral one, written with a purpose that is
consistently pursued throughout. Sin is displayed without a
mask, and its retribution is shown to be inevitable. There is
no attempt at varnishing or veneering the surface of a lax
moral order. The idea prevails among critics that Tolstoy
himself appears in this novel under the character of Levin.
(See also Vol. X, p. 291.)


_I_


The Oblonsky family was plunged into miserable confusion, for the wife,
through detecting a flirtation between her husband and the French
governess, declared she would no longer live with him. She remained in
her rooms, and the husband had not shown himself at home for three days.
Some of the servants quarrelled and others demanded their wages.

Prince Stepan Arkadyevitch (socially styled Stiva) had on returning one
evening from the theatre found his Dolly sitting with a letter in her
hand, and an expression of terror and despair on her countenance. "What
is this? This?" she asked. Instead of attempting a reply, Stepan smiled
good-humouredly and stupidly; and Dolly, after a flow of passionate
reproaches, rushed from the room.

Stepan had never imagined that any such discovery would have such an
effect on his wife. "How delightfully we were living till this
happened!" said he, as on the third morning after the outbreak he awoke
in his library, where he had rested on the lounge. "I never interfered