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peasant household made upon Levin, but the impression was so strong
that Levin could never get rid of it. And all the way from the old
peasant’s to Sviazhsky’s he kept recalling this peasant farm as though
there were something in this impression that demanded his special
attention.
Chapter 26.
Sviazhsky was the marshal of his district. He was five years older
than Levin, and had long been married. His sister-in-law, a young girl
Levin liked very much, lived in his house; and Levin knew that
Sviazhsky and his wife would have greatly liked to marry the girl to
him. He knew this with certainty, as so-called eligible young men
always know it, though he could never have brought himself to speak
of it to anyone; and he knew too that, although he wanted to get
married, and although by every token this very attractive girl would
make an excellent wife, he could no more have married her, even if he
had not been in love with Kitty Shtcherbatskaya, than he could have
flown up to the sky. And this knowledge poisoned the pleasure he had
hoped to find in the visit to Sviazhsky.
On getting Sviazhsky’s letter with the invitation for shooting, Levin
had immediately thought of this; but in spite of it he had made up his
mind that Sviazhsky’s having such views for him was simply his own
groundless supposition, and so he would go, all the same. Besides, at
the bottom of his heart he had a desire to try himself, put himself to the
test in regard to this girl. The Sviazhskys’ home-life was exceedingly
pleasant, and Sviazhsky himself, the best type of man taking part in
local affairs that Levin knew, was very interesting to him.
Sviazhsky was one of those people, always a source of wonder to