sacredly, and that in his hopeless solitude he had no other
interests but his, Nejdanov's, interests. He had never told anyone
of his relation with Silin, a relation that was very dear to him.

"Well, my dear friend, my pure-hearted Vladimir!" Thus he wrote
to him; he always called him pure-hearted, and not without good
cause. "Congratulate me; I have fallen upon green pasture, and
can rest awhile and gather strength. I am living in the house of
a rich statesman, Sipiagin, as tutor to his little son; I eat
well (have never eaten so well in my life!), sleep well, and
wander about the beautiful country--but, above all, I have for a
time crept out from under the wing of my St. Petersburg friends.
At first it was horribly boring, but I feel a bit better now. I
shall soon have to go into harness again, that is, put up with
the consequences of what I have undertaken (the reason I was
allowed to come here). For a time, at any rate, I can enjoy the
delights of a purely animal existence, expand in the waist, and
write verses if the mood seizes me. I will give you my
observations another time. The estate seems to me well managed on
the whole, with the exception, perhaps, of the factory, which is
not quite right; some of the peasants are unapproachable, and the
hired servants have servile faces--but we can talk about these
things later on. My host and hostess are courteous, liberal-
minded people; the master is for ever condescending, and bursts
out from time to time in torrents of eloquence, a most highly
cultured person! His lady, a picturesque beauty, who has all her
wits about her, keeps such a close watch on one, and is so soft!
I should think she has not a bone in her body! I am rather afraid
of her, you know what sort of a ladies' man I make! There are
neighbours--but uninteresting ones; then there is an old lady in