ow in the great frame of the open
doors. "But listen, there are women's voices singing, and, on my
word, not badly too. Who's that singing, my friend?"

"That's the maids from hard by here."

"Let's go, let's have a walk! We shan't go to sleep, you know.
Oblonsky, come along!"

"If one could only do both, lie here and go," answered Oblonsky,
stretching. "It's capital lying here."

"Well, I shall go by myself," said Veslovsky, getting up
eagerly, and putting on his shoes and stockings. "Good-bye,
gentlemen. If it's fun, I'll fetch you. You've treated me to
some good sport, and I won't forget you."

"He really is a capital fellow, isn't he?" said Stepan
Arkadyevitch, when Veslovsky had gone out and the peasant had
closed the door after him.

"Yes, capital," answered Levin, still thinking of the subject of
their conversation just before. It seemed to him that he had
clearly expressed his thoughts and feelings to the best of his
capacity, and yet both of them, straightforward men and not
fools, had said with one voice that he was comforting himself
with sophistries. This disconcerted him.

"It's just this, my dear boy. One must do one of two things:
either admit that the existing order of society is just, and then
stick up for one's rights in it; or acknowledge that you are
enjoying unjust privileges, as I do, and then enjoy them and be
satisfied."

"No, if it were unjust, you could not enjoy these advantages and
be satisfied--at least I could not. The great thing for me is
to feel that I'm not to blame."

"What do you say, why not go after all?" said Stepan
Arkadyevitch, evidently weary of the strain of thought. "We
shan't go to sleep, you know. Come, let's go!"

Levin did not answer. What they had said in the conversation,
that he acted justly only in a negative sense, absorbed his
thoughts. "Can it be that it's only possible to be just
negatively?" he was asking himself.

"How strong the smell of the fresh hay is, though," said Stepan
Arkadyevitch, getting up. "There's not a chance of sleeping.
Vassenka has been getting up some fun there. Do you hear the
laughing and his voice? Hadn't we better go? Come along!"

"No, I'm not coming," answered Levin.

"Surely that's not a matter of principle too," said Stepan
Arkadyevitch, smiling, as he felt about in the dark for his cap.

"It's not a matter of principle, but why should I go?"

"But do you know you are preparing trouble for yourse