the general's household.
in spite of his ineffectual attempt at the prison, nekhludoff, still in the same vigorous, energetic frame of mind, went to the governor's office to see if the original of the document had arrived for maslova. it had not arrived, so nekhludoff went back to the hotel and wrote without delay to selenin and the advocate about it. when he had finished writing he looked at his watch and saw it was time to go to the general's dinner party.
on the way he again began wondering how katusha would receive the news of the mitigation of her sentence. where she would be settled? how he should live with her? what about simonson? what would his relations to her be? he remembered the change that had taken place in her, and this reminded him of her past. "i must forget it for the present," he thought, and again hastened to drive her out of his mind. "when the time comes i shall see," he said to himself, and began to think of what he ought to say to the general.
the dinner at the general's, with the luxury habitual to the lives of the wealthy and those of high rank, to which nekhludoff had been accustomed, was extremely enjoyable after he had been so long deprived not only of luxury but even of the most ordinary comforts. the mistress of the house was a petersburg grande dame of the old school, a maid of honour at the court of nicholas i., who spoke french quite naturally and russian very unnaturally. she held herself very erect and, moving her hands, she kept her elbows close to her waist. she was quietly and, somewhat sadly considerate for her husband, and extremely kind to all her visitors, though with a tinge of difference in her behaviour according to their position. she received nekhludoff as if he were one of them, and her fine, almost imperceptible flattery made him once again aware of his virtues and gave him a feeling of satisfaction. she made him feel that she knew of that honest though rather singular step of his which had brought him to siberia, and held him to be an exceptional man. this refined flattery and the elegance and luxury of the general's house had the effect of making nekhludoff succumb to the enjoyment of the handsome surroundings, the delicate dishes and the case and pleasure of intercourse with educated people of his own class, so that the surroundings in the midst of which he had lived for the last months seemed a dream from which he had awakened to reality. besides those of the household, the general's daughter and her husband and an aide-de-camp, there were an englishman, a merchant interested in gold mines, and the governor of a distant siberian town. all these people seemed pleasant to nekhludoff. the englishman, a healthy man with a rosy complexion, who spoke very bad french, but whose command of his own language was very good and oratorically impressive, who had seen a great deal, was very interesting to listen to when he spoke about america, india, japan and siberia.
the young merchant interested in the gold mines, the son of a peasant, whose evening dress was made in london, who had diamond studs to his shirt, possessed a fine library, contributed freely to philanthropic work, and held liberal european views, seemed pleasant to nekhludoff as a sample of a quite new and good type of civilised european culture, grafted on a healthy, uncultivated peasant stem.
the governor of the distant siberian town was that same man who had been so much talked about in petersburg at the time nekhludoff was there. he was plump, with thin, curly hair, soft blue eyes, carefully-tended white hands, with rings on the fingers, a pleasant smile, and very big in the lower part of his body. the master of the house valued this governor because of all the officials he was the only one who would not be bribed. the mistress of the house, who was very fond of music and a very good pianist herself, valued him because he was a good musician and played duets with her.
nekhludoff was in such good humour that even this man was not unpleasant to him, in spite of what he knew of his vices. the bright, energetic aide-de-camp, with his bluey grey chin, who was continually offering his services, pleased nekhludoff by his good nature. but it was the charming young couple, the general's daughter and her husband, who pleased nekhludoff best. the daughter was a plain-looking, simple-minded young woman, wholly absorbed in her two children. her husband, whom she had fallen in love with and married after a long struggle with her parents, was a liberal, who had taken honours at the moscow university, a modest and intellectual young man in government service, who made up statistics and studied chiefly the foreign tribes, which he liked and tried to save from dying out.
all of them were not only kind and attentive to nekhludoff, but evidently pleased to see him, as a new and interesting acquaintance. the general, who came in to dinner in uniform and with a white cross round his neck, greeted nekhludoff as a friend, and asked the visitors to the side table to take a glass of vodka and something to whet their appetites. the general asked nekhludoff what he had been doing since he left that morning, and nekhludoff told him he had been to the post-office and received the news of the mitigation of that person's sentence that he had spoken of in the morning, and again asked for a permission to visit the prison.
the general, apparently displeased that business should be mentioned at dinner, frowned and said nothing.
"have a glass of vodka" he said, addressing the englishman, who had just come up to the table. the englishman drank a glass, and said he had been to see the cathedral and the factory, but would like to visit the great transportation prison.
"oh, that will just fit in," said the general to nekhludoff. "you will he able to go together. give them a pass," he added, turning to his aide-de-camp.
"when would you like to go?" nekhludoff asked.
"i prefer visiting the prisons in the evening," the englishman answered. "all are indoors and there is no preparation; you find them all as they are."
"ah, he would like to see it in all its glory! let him do so. i have written about it and no attention has been paid to it. let him find out from foreign publications," the general said, and went up to the dinner table, where the mistress of the house was showing the visitors their places. nekhludoff sat between his hostess and the englishman. in front of him sat the general's daughter and the ex-director of the government department in petersburg. the conversation at dinner was carried on by fits and starts, now it was india that the englishman talked about, now the tonkin expedition that the general strongly disapproved of, now the universal bribery and corruption in siberia. all these topics did not interest nekhludoff much.
but after dinner, over their coffee, nekhludoff and the englishman began a very interesting conversation about gladstone, and nekhludoff thought he had said many clever things which were noticed by his interlocutor. and nekhludoff felt it more and more pleasant to be sipping his coffee seated in an easy-chair among amiable, well-bred people. and when at the englishman's request the hostess went up to the piano with the ex-director of the government department, and they began to play in well-practised style beethoven's fifth symphony, nekhludoff fell into a mental state of perfect self-satisfaction to which he had long been a stranger, as though he had only just found out what a good fellow he was.
the grand piano was a splendid instrument, the symphony was well performed. at least, so it seemed to nekhludoff, who knew and liked that symphony. listening to the beautiful andante, he felt a tickling in his nose, he was so touched by his many virtues.
nekhludoff thanked his hostess for the enjoyment that he had been deprived of for so long, and was about to say goodbye and go when the daughter of the house came up to him with a determined look and said, with a blush, "you asked about my children. would you like to see them?"
"she thinks that everybody wants to see her children," said her mother, smiling at her daughter's winning tactlessness. "the prince is not at all interested."
"on the contrary, i am very much interested," said nekhludoff, touched by this overflowing, happy mother-love. "please let me see them."
"she's taking the prince to see her babies," the general shouted, laughing from the card-table, where he sat with his son-in-law, the mine owner and the aide-de-camp. "go, go, pay your tribute."
the young woman, visibly excited by the thought that judgment was about to be passed on her children, went quickly towards the inner apartments, followed by nekhludoff. in the third, a lofty room, papered with white and lit up by a shaded lamp, stood two small cots, and a nurse with a white cape on her shoulders sat between the cots. she had a kindly, true siberian face, with its high cheek-bones.
the nurse rose and bowed. the mother stooped over the first cot, in which a two-year-old little girl lay peacefully sleeping with her little mouth open and her long, curly hair tumbled over the pillow.
"this is katie," said the mother, straightening the white and blue crochet coverlet, from under which a little white foot pushed itself languidly out.
"is she not pretty? she's only two years old, you know."
"lovely."
"and this is vasiuk, as 'grandpapa' calls him. quite a different type. a siberian, is he not?"
"a splendid boy," said nekhludoff, as he looked at the little fatty lying asleep on his stomach.
"yes," said the mother, with a smile full of meaning.
nekhludoff recalled to his mind chains, shaved heads, fighting debauchery, the dying kryltzoff, katusha and the whole of her past, and he began to feel envious and to wish for what he saw here, which now seemed to him pure and refined happiness.
after having repeatedly expressed his admiration of the children, thereby at least partially satisfying their mother, who eagerly drank in this praise, he followed her back to the drawing-room, where the englishman was waiting for him to go and visit the prison, as they had arranged. having taken leave of their hosts, the old and the young ones, the englishman and nekhludoff went out into the porch of the general's house.
the weather had changed. it was snowing, and the snow fell densely in large flakes, and already covered the road, the roof and the trees in the garden, the steps of the porch, the roof of the trap and the back of the horse.
the englishman had a trap of his own, and nekhludoff, having told the coachman to drive to the prison, called his isvostchik and got in with the heavy sense of having to fulfil an unpleasant duty, and followed the englishman over the soft snow, through which the wheels turned with difficulty.
聂赫留朵夫虽然在监狱里碰了壁，但他还是兴奋地乘车去省长办公室，查问玛丝洛娃的减刑公文有没有到达。公文还没有到，因此聂赫留朵夫一回到旅馆，毫不耽搁，立刻写信把这事告诉谢列宁和律师。他写完信，看了看表，已经是去将军家赴宴的时候了。
在路上他又想到，不知道卡秋莎对她的减刑会有什么想法。她将被规定居留在什么地方？他将怎样跟她一起生活？西蒙松将怎么办？她对他究竟抱什么态度？聂赫留朵夫想起她精神上的变化，同时也想起了她的往事。
“必须把那些事忘记，一笔勾销，”他想，连忙把有关她的念头从头脑里驱除掉。“到时候都会见分晓的，”他自言自语，接着考虑他该对将军说些什么。
将军家的宴会十分豪华，显示出富豪和达官的生活排场。这种排场是聂赫留朵夫所习惯的，但他已长期丧失奢侈的享受，甚至连最起码的舒适条件都没有，因此这样的宴会就使他格外愉快。
女主人是位彼得堡的老派贵夫人，在尼古拉宫廷里做过女官，法语讲得很流利，讲俄语反而有点别扭。她总是身子挺得笔直，两手不论做什么事，臂肘总是贴住腰部。她尊敬丈夫，态度文静而有点忧郁；对待客人异常亲切，但程度因人而异。她把聂赫留朵夫当作自己人，待他特别殷勤，奉承他而使人不易察觉。这使聂赫留朵夫重新意识到自己的尊贵，从而感到扬扬得意。她使他觉得西伯利亚之行虽然古怪，却是高尚的，而且他是个与众不同的人。将军夫人这种微妙的奉承和将军家里豪华的生活，使聂赫留朵夫陶醉于漂亮的陈设、美味的食品以及同教养有素的人们愉快周旋之中，仿佛这段时期的生活是一场梦，如今梦醒了，他又回到现实中来。
在筵席上就座的，除了将军的女儿和她丈夫以及将军的副官等家里人，还有一个英国人、一个开采金矿的商人和一个从西伯利亚边城来的省长。聂赫留朵夫觉得这些人都和蔼可亲。
那个英国人身体强壮，脸色红润，法语讲得很差，但英语讲得象演说家一般优美动听。他见多识广，讲到美国、印度、日本和西伯利亚的见闻，使大家都觉得他是个有趣的人。
开采金矿的年轻商人，原是个农民的儿子，如今穿着一身在伦敦定制的燕尾服，衬衫袖子上配着钻石钮扣，家里藏书丰富，为慈善事业捐过很多钱，信奉欧洲自由主义思想，给聂赫留朵夫留下愉快的印象。他是欧洲文化通过教育接种到健康农民身上的一个好标本。
那个边城的省长，原来就是聂赫留朵夫在彼得堡时闹得满城风雨的某局局长1。这人长得胖乎乎的，生有稀疏的鬈发和一双温和的浅蓝色眼睛，下身特别肥胖，两只保养得很好的白嫩手上戴满戒指，脸上浮着使人愉快的微笑。男主人特别赏识这位省长，因为在大批惯于受贿的官员中间，唯独他不接受贿赂。女主人热爱音乐，弹得一手好钢琴。她之所以看重这位省长，因为他也是个出色的音乐家，常常同她四手联弹。聂赫留朵夫今天心情特别愉快，连这个人也没使他反感。
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1参看本书第二部第二十一章。
副官精力充沛，情绪极好，下巴刮得发青。他处处为人效劳，殷勤的态度很招人喜爱。
不过，聂赫留朵夫最喜爱的还是将军的女儿和她的丈夫这对年轻夫妇。将军的女儿长得并不美，但生性忠厚，全部身心都用在她的头两个孩子身上。她与她丈夫经过自由恋爱而结婚，为此同父母长期争吵过。她丈夫是个自由主义者，在莫斯科大学获得副博士学位，天资聪明，为人谦逊，在官府做统计工作。他特别关心非俄罗斯人问题，喜爱他们，竭力要把他们从绝种的危险中拯救出来。
人人对聂赫留朵夫都很亲切殷勤，而且因为能同他这样一位有趣的新伙伴结交，感到很高兴。将军身穿军服，脖子上挂着白十字章，出来主持宴会。他对聂赫留朵夫象对老朋友似的打了个招呼，立刻邀请客人们吃冷盘和伏特加。将军问聂赫留朵夫从他家出去后做了些什么，聂赫留朵夫说他到过邮政局，知道早晨谈起的那个人已得到减刑，同时再次要求将军准许他探监。
将军对吃饭时谈公事，显然很不满意，他皱起眉头，一言不发。
“您要来点伏特加吗？”他转身用法语招呼那个走过来的英国人。英国人喝干一杯伏特加，说他今天参观过大教堂和一座工厂，还希望参观一所大的解犯监狱。
“那正好，”将军对聂赫留朵夫说，“你们可以一起去。您给他们开张通行证，”他对副官说。
“您希望什么时候去？”聂赫留朵夫问英国人。
“我愿意晚上去参观监狱，”英国人说，“所有的人都在监狱里，事先不作准备，一切都保持本来面目。”
“哦，他想看看个中妙处吗？那就让他看吧。我写过呈文，可是他们不听我的话。那就让他们通过外国报纸去领教吧，”
将军说着走到餐桌旁，女主人招待客人们入席。
聂赫留朵夫坐在女主人和英国人中间。他对面坐着将军的女儿和某局前任局长。
筵席上谈话时断时续，一会儿谈到印度——那是英国人首先谈到的，一会儿谈到法国人远征东京1——将军对这事严加谴责，一会儿谈到西伯利亚普遍流行的欺诈和受贿行为。
对这些谈话，聂赫留朵夫都不太感兴趣。
不过，饭后大家到客厅里喝咖啡，聂赫留朵夫跟英国人和女主人谈到格拉斯顿2时，却谈得津津有味。他觉得自己发表了许多精辟的见解，使他们很感兴趣。聂赫留朵夫吃了一顿好饭，喝了一些美酒，这会儿坐在柔软的沙发上，一面喝咖啡，一面同和蔼可亲、教养有素的人谈话，心里越来越高兴。而当女主人应英国人的要求，跟前任局长一起弹奏他们弹得很熟练的贝多芬《第五交响曲》时，聂赫留朵夫产生一种好久没有过的自我陶醉的感觉，仿佛现在才意识到他是个多么好的好人。
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1指一八八二——一八九八年法国侵略越南北部的殖民战争。越南北部旧称“东京”。
2格拉斯顿（1809—1898）——英国政治家，曾任首相，执行殖民政策，于一八八二年出兵占领埃及。
那架大钢琴音色优美，交响曲又弹得很出色。至少喜欢和熟悉这支交响曲的聂赫留朵夫有这样的感觉。他听着优美的行板，感到鼻子发酸，对自己的各种高尚行为十分感动。
聂赫留朵夫感谢女主人的盛情招待，说这样的快乐他好久没有享受过了。他正要告辞，不料女主人的女儿神情果断地走到他跟前，涨红了脸说：
“您刚才问起我那两个孩子，您愿意去看看吗？”
“她总以为人家都想看看她的孩子呢，”做母亲的看到女儿如此天真不懂事，微笑着说。“人家公爵才不感兴趣呢。”
“不，正好相反，我很感兴趣，很感兴趣，”聂赫留朵夫被这种洋溢的母爱所感动，说。“请吧，请您带我去看看。”
“居然把公爵都领去看她的小娃娃了，”将军正同他的女婿、金矿主和副官一起打牌，从牌桌那边笑着叫起来。“您去吧，去尽尽义务吧。”
少妇想到客人马上要对她的孩子进行评判，显然很激动，就快步把聂赫留朵夫领到里屋。他们来到第三个房间。那个房间很高，糊着白色墙纸，点着一盏小灯，灯上扣着一个深色灯罩。房间里并排放着两张小床，中间坐着一个颧骨很高、模样忠厚、身穿白披肩的奶妈，看上去象是个西伯利亚人。奶妈站起来，向他们鞠躬。做母亲的向第一张小床弯下身去，床上安静地睡着一个两岁的小女孩，张开小嘴，长长的鬈发披散在枕头上。
“喏，这就是卡嘉，”做母亲的说，拉拉天蓝条纹的线毯，把从毯子底下伸出来的一只雪白小脚盖好。“好看吗？她才两岁呢。”
“太美了！”
“这是华秀克，是他外公起的名。他可完全是另一种模样了。他是个西伯利亚人。不是吗？”
“是个很可爱的孩子，”聂赫留朵夫看着背朝天睡的胖娃娃，说。
“是吗？”做母亲的得意扬扬地笑着说。
聂赫留朵夫想起脚镣手铐、阴阳头、殴打、淫乱，想起垂死的克雷里卓夫，想起卡秋莎和她的全部身世。他心里十分羡慕，真巴不得多享受享受这里优雅的幸福。
他几次三番称赞这两个孩子，多少满足了贪婪地听着赞辞的母亲，然后跟着她回到客厅。英国人已在客厅里等他，准备一起乘车去监狱。聂赫留朵夫跟一家老少告了别，同英国人一起来到将军府的大门口。
天气变了。鹅毛大雪漫天飞舞，盖没了道路，盖没了屋顶，盖没了花园里的树木，盖没了门前的台阶，盖没了马车，盖没了马背。英国人自己有一辆轻便马车，聂赫留朵夫就吩咐英国人的车夫把车驾到监狱里去。他自己坐上四轮马车，因为要去履行一项不愉快的义务，感到心情沉重。就这样他坐在柔软的马车上，跟在英国人后面，在雪地上剧烈颠簸着，往监狱驶去。