Levin spent that evening with his betrothed at Dolly's, and in trying to explain to Stepan Arkadyevitch the excitable condition in which he found himself, was very gay; he said that he was like a dog being trained to jump through a hoop, which, delighted at having learned his lesson, wags his tail, and is eager to leap over the table and through the window.
CHAPTER II
The princess and Darya Aleksandrovna insisted on strictly observing the established customs; so Levin was not to see his "bride" on the day of the wedding, and he dined at his hotel with three bachelors, who met in his room by chance: they were Sergyeï Ivanovitch; Katavasof, an old university friend, now professor of natural sciences, whom Levin had met on the street and brought home to dinner; Chirikof, his shafer or best man, justice of the peace at Moscow, and Levin's companion in bear-hunting.
The dinner was very lively. Sergyeï Ivanovitch was in the best of spirits, and greatly enjoyed Katavasof's originality. Katavasof, feeling that his originality was appreciated and understood, made a great display of it and Chirikof added his share of gayety to the conversation.
"So, here is our friend Konstantin Dmitrievitch," said Katavasof, with the slow speech of a professor accustomed to talk ex cathedra;" what a talented fellow he was! I speak of him in the past, for he no longer exists. He loved science when he left the university; he took an interest in humanity; now he employs half his faculties in deceiving himself, and the other half in apologizing for the deception."
"I never met a more confirmed enemy of marriage than you," said Sergyeï Ivanovitch.
"No, I am not its enemy; I am a friend of the distribution of labor. People who cannot do anything ought to be the ones to propagate the race. All the
