only just coming into fashion. Dinner time came.
Lavretsky would have gone away, but they made him stop, and the
General treated him at table with excellent Lafitte, which the footman
had been hurriedly sent out to buy at Depre's.

It was late in the evening before Lavretsky returned home; and then
he sat for a longtime without undressing, covering his eyes with his
hand, and yielding to the torpor of enchantment. It seemed to him that
he had not till now understood what makes life worth having. All his
resolutions and intentions, all the now valueless ideas of other days,
had disappeared in a moment. His whole soul melted within him into one
feeling, one desire; into the desire of happiness, of possession, of
love, of the sweetness of a woman's love.

From that day he began to visit the Korobines frequently. After six
months had passed, he proposed to Varvara Pavlovna, and his offer
was accepted. Long, long before, even if it was not the night before
Lavretsky's first visit, the General had asked Mikhalevich how many
serfs[A] his friend had. Even Varvara Pavlona, who had preserved her
wonted composure and equanimity during the whole period of her
young admirer's courtship, and even at the very moment of his
declaration--even Varvara Pavlovna knew perfectly well that her
betrothed was rich. And Calliope Carlovna thought to herself, "_Meine
Tochter macht eine schoene Partie_[B]"--and bought herself a new cap.

[Footnote A: Literally, "souls," _i.e._, male peasants.]

[Footnote B: My daughter is going to make a capital match.]

XV.

And so his offer was accepted, but under certain conditions. In the
first place, Lavretsky must immediately leave the university. Who
could think of marrying a student? And what an extraordinary idea,
a landed proprietor, a rich man, at twenty-six years of age, to be
taking lessons like a schoolboy! In the second place, Varvara Pavlovna
was to take upon herself the trouble of ordering and buying her
trousseau. She even chose the presents the bridegroom was to give.
She had very good taste, and a great deal of common sense, and she
possessed a great liking for comfort, and no small skill in getting
herself that comfort. Lavretsky was particularly struck by this talent
when, immediately after the wedding, he and his wife set off for
Lavriki, travelling in a convenient carriage which she had chosen
herself. How carefully all their surroundings had been meditated over
by Varvara Pa