Page:Anna Karenina.djvu/867

 prove that it was necessary to acknowledge that the expenditures had been verified or that they had not been verified, and he went into a long exposition of the dilemma.

A chatterer from the opposite party replied to Sergyeï Ivanovitch. Then Sviazhsky spoke, and was followed by the sarcastic gentleman. The proceedings were tedious, and no end was reached. Levin was surprised that they discussed this so long, and all the more because, when he asked Sergyeï Ivanovitch whether Snetkof were suspected of peculation, he replied:—

"Oh, he's an honest man. But we must shake this old-fashioned patriarchal way of managing business."

On the fifth day occurred the election of the district marshals. The session was a stormy one for many of the districts. In the uyezd or district of Seleznevskoye, Sviazhsky was unanimously elected by acclamation, and he gave a grand dinner the same evening.

CHAPTER XXVII

principal election, that of marshal of the government, did not take place until the sixth day.

The great halls and the little halls were crowded with nobles in their various uniforms. Many came for this day only. Acquaintances who had not met for years were there, some from the Krimea, some from Petersburg, some from abroad. The debates were carried on at the governor's table, under the emperor's portrait.

The nobles both in the larger and in the smaller hall were grouped in opposing camps, and, judging by the hostile and mistrustful looks exchanged, by the conversations which ceased at the approach of strangers, by the fact that some walked up and down the distant corridor whispering together, it was evident that each side had secrets from the other. Even by a superficial glance it could be seen that the nobles were divided into two sharply contrasting types: the old and the new. The old school wore for the most part either old court uni-