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 ernment marshal was in despair, and could not disguise it. When Nevyedovsky went out of the hall, the throng surrounded him and expressed their enthusiasm toward him as they had done toward the governor when he opened the election, and as they had done toward Snetkof when he was elected.

CHAPTER XXXI

this day the newly elected marshal of the government and many of the new party which triumphed with him dined with Vronsky.

The count came to the elections because, it was tiresome in the country and it was necessary for him to assert his independence before Anna, and also because he wished to render a service to Sviazhsky in return for similar favors shown him at the zemstvo elections, and last and principally because he intended strictly to fulfil the duties which he imposed upon himself as a noble and a landowner.

But he had never anticipated the intense interest which he would take in the elections or the success with which he would play his part. He was a perfectly "new man" among the nobles, but he was evidently successful, and he was not mistaken in supposing that he already inspired confidence. This sudden influence was due to his wealth and distinction, to the fine house which he occupied in town,—a house which an old friend of his, Shirkof, a financier and the director of a flourishing bank at Kashin, had given up to him,—and partly to an excellent cook whom he brought with him, and to his friendship with the governor, who was his ally and a protecting ally; but above all to his simple and impartial treatment of every one, so that the majority of the nobles quickly changed their minds in regard to the reputation he had acquired of being proud. He him- self felt that, with the exception of this silly gentleman who had married Kitty Shcherbatsky, and who à propos de bottes had been disposed foolishly to quarrel with him