Book: Sunday. Page 2

It was completely the opposite of what happened before. Before, it was necessary to figure out what to do, and the interest of the matter was always the same - Dmitry Ivanovich Nekhlyudov; and yet, despite the fact that all the interest of life was then concentrated on Dmitry Ivanovich, all these affairs were boring. Now all the cases concerned other people, and not Dmitry Ivanovich, and everyone was interesting and fascinating, and there was an abyss of these cases.

What made Nekhlyudov happy and elevated him to an unexperienced height was the realization that no actions of Maslova could change his love for her.

He remembered the words of the American writer Thoreau, who, while there was slavery in America, said that the only place befitting an honest citizen in a state in which slavery is legalized and protected is a prison.

What was my whole dissolute life for? To understand all this, to understand the whole business of the owner, is not in my power. But to do his will, written in my conscience, is in my power, and I know this beyond doubt.

He now did not think about what would happen to him, and he was not even interested in it, but thought only about what he should do.

The people are dying out, have become accustomed to their extinction, and among them have developed methods of living characteristic of extinction. And so little by little the people came to this situation that they themselves do not see all the horror of it and do not complain about it.

No matter how hard it was for him to ask a person he did not respect, it was the only means to achieve his goal, and he had to go through it.

She told him, obviously quite confident, that he was very interested and pleased to know all the secrets of the people's will. Nekhlyudov was surprised why she did and told all this. She was pitied by the obvious confusion that was in her head. She obviously considered herself a heroine, ready to sacrifice her life for the success of her business, and yet she could hardly explain what this business was and what made it successful.

If he had not tried to make amends and atone for his crime, he would never have felt the full criminality of it.

The poor man has to marry and the night is short, the rich man has just planned it, made a wish - everything you wish will come true.

Go away from me. I am a convict, and you are a prince, and you have no business being here. You want to be saved by me. You enjoyed me in this life, but you want to be saved by me in the next world!

He knew the laws and demanded their execution. For this, his superiors did not like him.

Nekhlyudov experienced a feeling similar to that which a horse must experience when it is stroked in order to put on a bridle and lead it to harness. And now more than ever it was unpleasant for him to drive.

On the day appointed by lawyer Fanarin, Nekhlyudov came to see him. Entering his magnificent apartment in his own house with huge plants and amazing curtains in the windows and generally that expensive furnishings, testifying to foolish, that is, easily obtained money, which only happens to people who have unexpectedly become rich, Nekhlyudov found applicants waiting in line in the reception area.