rticular necessity for him to do so. But apart from his marriage there
were, it appears, other reasons for his declining the situation. He was
tempted by the resounding fame of a professor, celebrated at that time,
and he, in his turn, hastened to the lecturer's chair for which he had
been preparing himself, to try his eagle wings in flight. But now with
singed wings he naturally remembered the proposition which even then had
made him hesitate. The sudden death of his second wife, who did not live
a year with him, settled the matter decisively. To put it plainly it was
all brought about by the passionate sympathy and priceless, so to
speak, classic friendship of Varvara Petrovna, if one may use such
an expression of friendship. He flung himself into the arms of this
friendship, and his position was settled for more than twenty years. I
use the expression "flung himself into the arms of," but God forbid that
anyone should fly to idle and superfluous conclusions. These embraces
must be understood only in the most loftily moral sense. The most
refined and delicate tie united these two beings, both so remarkable,
for ever.

The post of tutor was the more readily accepted too, as the property--a
very small one--left to Stepan Trofimovitch by his first wife was close
to Skvoreshniki, the Stavrogins' magnificent estate on the outskirts of
our provincial town. Besides, in the stillness of his study, far from
the immense burden of university work, it was always possible to devote
himself to the service of science, and to enrich the literature of his
country with erudite studies. These works did not appear. But on the
other hand it did appear possible to spend the rest of his life, more
than twenty years, "a reproach incarnate," so to speak, to his native
country, in the words of a popular poet:

_Reproach incarnate thou didst stand_
_Erect before thy Fatherland,_
_O Liberal idealist!_

But the person to whom the popular poet referred may perhaps have had
the right to adopt that pose for the rest of his life if he had wished
to do so, though it must have been tedious. Our Stepan Trofimovitch was,
to tell the truth, only an imitator compared with such people; moreover,
he had grown weary of standing erect and often lay down for a while.
But, to do him justice, the "incarnation of reproach" was preserved even
in the recumbent attitude, the more so as that was quite sufficient for
the province. You should have seen him at our clu