ions and remained silent.
He was sentenced to exile in the Government of Archangel. There he
formulated a religious creed defining all his actions. According to
this religious teaching nothing in the world is dead, there is life in
everything; all those things which we consider dead, inorganic, are
but parts of a huge organic body which we cannot embrace, and that, as
a part of a huge organism, man's aim should be to conserve the life of
that organism and the lives of all its parts. He therefore considered
it a crime to destroy life; was against war, executions, the killing
in any manner not only of human beings, but of animals. He also had
his theory of marriage, according to which the breeding of people was
man's lower function, his higher function consisting in conserving
life already existing. He found confirmation of this idea in the
existence of phagocites in the blood. Bachelors, according to him,
were the same phagocites whose function was to help the weak, sickly
parts of the organism. And true to his convictions, he had been
performing this function since he became convinced of the truth of the
theory, although as a youth he had led a different life. He called
himself, as well as Maria Pablovna, a phagocite of the world.

His love for Katiousha did not violate this theory, since it was
purely platonic. He assumed that such love not only did not prevent
his phagocite activity, but aided it.

And it was this man who, falling in love with Katiousha, had a
decisive influence over her. With the instincts of a woman, Maslova
soon discovered it, and the consciousness that she could arouse the
feeling of love in such a remarkable man raised her in her own
estimation. Nekhludoff offered to marry her out of magnanimity, and
the obligation for the past, but Simonson loved her as she was now,
and loved her simply because he loved her. She felt, besides, that he
considered her an unusual woman, distinguished from all other women,
and possessing high moral qualities. She did not know exactly what
those qualities were, but, at all events, not to deceive him, she
endeavored with all her power to call forth her best qualities and,
necessarily, be as good as she could be.

CHAPTER IV.

Nekhludoff managed to see Maslova only twice between Nijhni and
Perm--once in Nijhni while the prisoners were being placed on a
net-covered lighter, and again in the office of the Perm prison. On
both occasions he found her secretive