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 all those excellent people,—Oblonsky, Karenin, and the rest of humanity.

Stepan Arkadyevitch seemed entirely to forget Levin and Kitty in placing his guests at table until all but two of the seats were assigned; then he put them side by side.

"Well, you can sit there," said he to Levin.

The dinner was as elegant as the appointments; for Stepan Arkadyevitch was a great connoisseur in such matters. The Marie-Louise soup was perfect, the little pirogi or pasties which melted in the mouth were irreproachable; and Matve, with two waiters in white cravats, skilfully and noiselessly served the roast and the wine.

On the material side the dinner was a success; it was not less so on the non-material side. The conversation was sometimes general, sometimes special, but it never lagged; and toward the end of the dinner it had grown so animated that when they left the table the men could not drop their interesting topics, and even Alekseï Aleksandrovitch was thawed out.

CHAPTER X

, who liked to discuss a question thoroughly, was not satisfied with what Koznuishef had said; he felt that he had not been allowed to express his thought sufficiently.

"In speaking of the density of the population," said he, after the soup, addressing Alekseï Aleksandrovitch, "I did n't intend to make it the principle of an assimilation, but only a means."

"It seems to me that that amounts to the same thing," replied Karenin, slowly and indolently. "In my judgment, a people can have no influence over another people unless it has the highest development which...."

"That is precisely the question," interrupted Pestsof, who always spoke with so much ardor that he seemed to put his whole soul into defending his own opinions