Snetkof was speaking of the confidence which the nobility had reposed in him, of their love for him which he did not deserve, because all his service had consisted in his devotion to the nobility, whom he had served for twenty years. Several times he repeated the words, "I have served to the best of my ability, I appreciate your confidence and thank you for it," and then, suddenly pausing because of the tears which choked him, he hurried from the room. His tears arose either from the injustice that had been done him, or from his love for the nobles, or possibly from the unpleasant position in which he was placed, finding himself surrounded by enemies; but his grief was contagious; the majority of the nobles were touched, and Levin felt sorry for him.
At the door the government marshal stumbled against Levin.
"Excuse me,—I beg your pardon," he said, as to a stranger; then, recognizing him, he smiled a melancholy smile. It seemed to Levin that he wanted to say something but was prevented by his emotion. The expression of his face and his whole figure in his uniform, with his crosses, and white pantaloons ornamented with galloon, as he hastened out, reminded Levin of some hunted animal which sees that it has little chance to escape. This expression in the government marshal's face went to Levin's heart, for only the day before he had been to see him about the guardianship affair, and had seen in the whole establishment the dignity of a good-hearted domestic gentleman: the house large, with ancestral furniture; unstylish, dirty, but dignified, old servants who had evidently been former serfs and had not changed their master; the wife, a tall, benevolent lady in her lace cap and Turkish shawl, caressing her lovely granddaughter; the youngest son, a boy in the sixth class of the gymnasium, who had come in to wish his father good morning and to kiss his big hand; the imposing but affectionate greetings and gestures of the master of the house: all this had awakened in Levin involuntary respect and sympathy even then, and now he felt touched and sorry for the old man, and wanted to say something pleasant to him.
