Page:Anna Karenina.djvu/874

 "Perhaps you will be our marshal again."

"I doubt it," said Snetkof, with his scared look. "I am tired, getting old. There are younger and better men than I. Must let them take my place." And he disappeared by a side door.

Now the most solemn moment had arrived. It was necessary to proceed immediately to the election itself. The leaders of both parties were counting on their fingers the white and black balls. The controversy regarding Flerof gave the new party not only one more vote, but also gained time, so that they could send for three nobles, whom the trickery of the old party was going to deprive of the possibility of taking part in the election. Two nobles who had a weakness for wine had been made drunk by Snetkof's henchmen, and a third had been seduced by the promise of a uniform.

Having learned about this, the new party had made haste during the contest concerning Flerof to send an izvoshchik for the noble and to provide him with a uniform, and to bring one of the two drunken nobles to the hall.

"I brought one of them, I had to douse him with water," said the proprietor who had gone in search of him, addressing Sviazhsky. "He'll do."

"He's not very drunk, is he; can't he stand?" asked Sviazhsky, shaking his head. "Yes, he's a young man. Only don't let them get him to drinking here. .... I told the caterer not to give him any wine under any consideration."

CHAPTER XXIX

narrow hall where men smoked and had luncheon was crowded with nobles. The excitement kept increasing, and all faces showed signs of anxiety. Especially agitated were the leaders, who knew all the details and had followed the voting very closely. These men had charge of the approaching engagement. The others, like the soldiers in the ranks before the battle, although ready for the conflict, in the meantime sought