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tention. But Stremov, who had felt stung to the quick at the last sitting,
had, on the reception of the commission’s report, resorted to tactics
which Alexey Alexandrovitch had not anticipated. Stremov, carrying
with him several members, went over to Alexey Alexandrovitch’s side,
and not contenting himself with warmly defending the measure pro-
posed by Karenin, proposed other more extreme measures in the same
direction. These measures, still further exaggerated in opposition to
what was Alexey Alexandrovitch’s fundamental idea, were passed by
the commission, and then the aim of Stremov’s tactics became appar-
ent. Carried to an extreme, the measures seemed at once to be so
absurd that the highest authorities, and public opinion, and intellec-
tual ladies, and the newspapers, all at the same time fell foul of them,
expressing their indignation both with the measures and their nominal
father, Alexey Alexandrovitch. Stremov drew back, affecting to have
blindly followed Karenin, and to be astounded and distressed at what
had been done. This meant the defeat of Alexey Alexandrovitch. But
in spite of failing health, in spite of his domestic griefs, he did not give
in. There was a split in the commission. Some members, with Stremov
at their head, justified their mistake on the ground that they had put
faith in the commission of revision, instituted by Alexey Alexandrovitch,
and maintained that the report of the commission was rubbish, and
simply so much waste paper. Alexey Alexandrovitch, with a following
of those who saw the danger of so revolutionary an attitude to official
documents, persisted in upholding the statements obtained by the
revising commission. In consequence of this, in the higher spheres,
and even in society, all was chaos, and although everyone was inter-
ested, no one could tell whether the native tribes really were becoming
impoverished and ruined, or whether they were in a flourishing condi-
tion. The position of Alexey Alexandrovitch, owing to this, and partly
owing to the contempt lavished on him for his wife’s infidelity, became
very precarious. And in this position he took an important resolution.
To the astonishment of the commission, he announced that he should
ask permission to go himself to investigate the question on the spot.
And having obtained permission, Alexey Alexandrovitch prepared to
set off to these remote provinces.
Alexey Alexandrovitch’s departure made a great sensation, the
more so as just before he started he officially returned the posting-
fares allowed him for twelve horses, to drive to his destination.
“I think it very noble,” Betsy said about this to the Princess
Myakaya. “Why take money for posting-horses when everyone knows
that there are railways everywhere now?”
But Princess Myakaya did not agree, and the Princess Tverskaya’s
opinion annoyed her indeed.
“It’s all very well for you to talk,” said she, “when you have I don’t
know how many millions; but I am very glad when my husband goes
on a revising tour in the summer. It’s very good for him and pleasant
traveling about, and it’s a settled arrangement for me to keep a carriage
and coachman on the money.”
On his way to the remote provinces Alexey Alexandrovitch stopped
for three days at Moscow.
The day after his arrival he was driving back from calling on the
governor-general. At the crossroads by Gazetoy Place, where there
are always crowds of carriages and sledges, Alexey Alexandrovitch
suddenly heard his name called out in such a loud and cheerful voice
that he could not help looking round. At the corner of the pavement, in
a short, stylish overcoat and a low-crowned fashionable hat, jauntily
askew, with a smile that showed a gleam of white teeth and red lips,
stood Stepan Arkadyevitch, radiant, young, and beaming. He called