light theoretically, and to finish his treatise, which Levin imagined was likely not only to revolutionize political economy, but even to annihilate this science, and to make the beginnings of a new one, treating of the relations of the peasantry to the soil, he felt that it was necessary to go abroad, and to learn, from observation on the spot, all that was going on in that direction, and to find conclusive proofs that all that was done there was not the right thing.
He was only waiting for the delivery of the wheat to get his money, and make the journey. But the autumn rains set in, and portions of the wheat and potatoes were not as yet garnered. All work was at a standstill, and it was impossible to deliver the wheat. The roads were impracticable, two mills were washed away by the freshet, and the weather kept growing worse and worse.
But on the morning of October 12 the sun came out; and Levin, hoping for a change in the weather, began resolutely to prepare for his journey. He sent the overseer to the merchant to negotiate for the sale of the wheat, and he himself went out for a tour of inspection of the estate, in order to make the last remaining arrangements for his journey.
Having accomplished all that he wished, he returned at nightfall, wet from the rivulets that trickled from his waterproof down his neck and inside his high boots, but in a happy and animated frame of mind. Toward evening the storm increased; the hail pelted so violently the drenched horse, that she shook her ears and her head, and went sidewise; but Levin, protected by his bashluik, felt comfortable enough, and he cheer fully gazed around him,—now at the muddy streams running down the wheel-tracks; now at the raindrops trickling down every bare twig; now at the white spots where the hail had not yet melted on the planks of the bridge; now at the dry but still pulpy leaf, clinging with its stout stem to the denuded elm. In spite of the gloomy aspect of nature, he felt in particularly good spirits. His talks with the peasants in a distant
