Levin, anxious to see everybody and miss nothing, was in the midst of the throng, and he heard the governor say, "Please tell Marya Ivanovna that my wife is very sorry, but she had to go to the asylum."
Then all the nobles gayly took their shubas, and went in a body to the cathedral.
In the cathedral Levin, together with the rest, raised his hand and repeated, after the protopope, the solemn oaths by which they swore to fulfil their duties. The church service always impressed Levin, and when he joined with this throng of men, old and young, in repeating the words, "I kiss the cross," he felt stirred.
On the second and third day the assembly was occupied with the moneys meant for the educational establishments for the nobility and for women, which Sergyeï Ivanovitch declared had no especial importance, and Levin, who had his own business to attend to, was not present.
On the fourth day the verifying of the government accounts came up, and here, for the first time, the new party came into direct collision with the old. The commission, whose duty it was to verify these accounts, announced to the assembly that the money was all accounted for. The government marshal arose, and with tears in his eyes thanked the nobility for their confidence in him. The nobles loudly congratulated him, and shook hands with him.
But at this time one noble belonging to Sergyeï Ivanovitch's party declared that he had heard that the commission, for fear of affronting the government marshal, had not properly performed the verification of the accounts. One of the members of the commission unguardedly admitted this. Then a very small and very young-looking, but very sarcastic, gentleman began to say that it would probably be agreeable for the government marshal to give an account of his expenditures, and that the excessive delicacy of the members of the commission had deprived him of that moral satisfaction. Thereupon the members of the commission withdrew their report, and Sergyeï Ivanovitch began logically to
