more in
getting married. Everybody--both his colleagues and the ladies--began
assuring Byelikov that he ought to get married, that there was nothing
left for him in life but to get married; we all congratulated him, with
solemn countenances delivered ourselves of various platitudes, such
as 'Marriage is a serious step.' Besides, Varinka was good-looking and
interesting; she was the daughter of a civil councillor, and had a
farm; and what was more, she was the first woman who had been warm and
friendly in her manner to him. His head was turned, and he decided that
he really ought to get married."

"Well, at that point you ought to have taken away his goloshes and
umbrella," said Ivan Ivanovitch.

"Only fancy! that turned out to be impossible. He put Varinka's portrait
on his table, kept coming to see me and talking about Varinka, and
home life, saying marriage was a serious step. He was frequently at
Kovalenko's, but he did not alter his manner of life in the least; on
the contrary, indeed, his determination to get married seemed to have
a depressing effect on him. He grew thinner and paler, and seemed to
retreat further and further into his case.

"'I like Varvara Savvishna,' he used to say to me, with a faint and wry
smile, 'and I know that every one ought to get married, but... you know
all this has happened so suddenly.... One must think a little.'

"'What is there to think over?' I used to say to him. 'Get
married--that is all.'

"'No; marriage is a serious step. One must first weigh the duties
before one, the responsibilities... that nothing may go wrong
afterwards. It worries me so much that I don't sleep at night. And I
must confess I am afraid: her brother and she have a strange way of
thinking; they look at things strangely, you know, and her disposition
is very impetuous. One may get married, and then, there is no knowing,
one may find oneself in an unpleasant position.'

"And he did not make an offer; he kept putting it off, to the great
vexation of the headmaster's wife and all our ladies; he went on
weighing his future duties and responsibilities, and meanwhile he went
for a walk with Varinka almost every day--possibly he thought that this
was necessary in his position--and came to see me to talk about family
life. And in all probability in the end he would have proposed to her,
and would have made one of those unnecessary, stupid marriages such as
are made by thousands among us from being bored and