Part Six: Chapter 27

by Leo Tolstoy

　　The sixth day was fixed for the election of the marshal of theprovince.

　　The rooms, large and small, were full of noblemen in all sorts ofuniforms. Many had come only for that day. Men who had not seeneach other for years, some from the Crimea, some from Petersburg,some from abroad, met in the rooms of the Hall of Nobility.There was much discussion around the governor's table under theportrait of the Tsar.

　　The nobles, both in the larger and the smaller rooms, groupedthemselves in camps, and from their hostile and suspiciousglances, from the silence that fell upon them when outsidersapproached a group, and from the way that some, whisperingtogether, retreated to the farther corridor, it was evident thateach side had secrets from the other. In appearance the noblemenwere sharply divided into two classes: the old and the new. Theold were for the most part either in old uniforms of thenobility, buttoned up closely, with spurs and hats, or in theirown special naval, cavalry, infantry, or official uniforms. Theuniforms of the older men were embroidered in the old-fashionedway with epaulets on their shoulders; they were unmistakablytight and short in the waist, as though their wearers had grownout of them. The younger men wore the uniform of the nobilitywith long waists and broad shoulders, unbuttoned over whitewaistcoats, or uniforms with black collars and with theembroidered badges of justices of the peace. To the younger menbelonged the court uniforms that here and there brightened up thecrowd.

　　But the division into young and old did not correspond with thedivision of parties. Some of the young men, as Levin observed,belonged to the old party; and some of the very oldest noblemen,on the contrary, were whispering with Sviazhsky, and wereevidently ardent partisans of the new party.

　　Levin stood in the smaller room, where they were smoking andtaking light refreshments, close to his own friends, andlistening to what they were saying, he conscientiously exertedall his intelligence trying to understand what was said. SergeyIvanovitch was the center round which the others groupedthemselves. He was listening at that moment to Sviazhsky andHliustov, the marshal of another district, who belonged to theirparty. Hliustov would not agree to go with his district to askSnetkov to stand, while Sviazhsky was persuading him to do so,and Sergey Ivanovitch was approving of the plan. Levin could notmake out why the opposition was to ask the marshal to stand whomthey wanted to supersede.

　　Stepan Arkadyevitch, who had just been drinking and taking somelunch, came up to them in his uniform of a gentleman of thebedchamber, wiping his lips with a perfumed handkerchief ofbordered batiste.

　　"We are placing our forces," he said, pulling out his whiskers,"Sergey Ivanovitch!"

　　And listening to the conversation, he supported Sviazhsky'scontention.

　　"One district's enough, and Sviazhsky's obviously of theopposition," he said, words evidently intelligible to all exceptLevin.

　　"Why, Kostya, you here too! I suppose you're converted, eh?" headded, turning to Levin and drawing his arm through his. Levinwould have been glad indeed to be converted, but could not makeout what the point was, and retreating a few steps from thespeakers, he explained to Stepan Arkadyevitch his inability tounderstand why the marshal of the province should be asked tostand.

　　"O sancta simplicitas!" said Stepan Arkadyevitch, and briefly andclearly he explained it to Levin. If, as at previous elections,all the districts asked the marshal of the province to stand,then he would be elected without a ballot. That must not be.Now eight districts had agreed to call upon him: if two refusedto do so, Snetkov might decline to stand at all; and then the oldparty might choose another of their party, which would throw themcompletely out in their reckoning. But if only one district,Sviazhsky's, did not call upon him to stand, Snetkov would lethimself be balloted for. They were even, some of them, going tovote for him, and purposely to let him get a good many votes, sothat the enemy might be thrown off the scent, and when acandidate of the other side was put up, they too might give himsome votes. Levin understood to some extent, but not fully, andwould have put a few more questions, when suddenly everyonebegan talking and making a noise and they moved towards the bigroom.

　　"What is it? eh? whom?" "No guarantee? whose? what?" "They won'tpass him?" "No guarantee?" "They won't let Flerov in?" "Eh,because of the charge against him?" "Why, at this rate, theywon't admit anyone. It's a swindle!" "The law!" Levin heardexclamations on all sides, and he moved into the big roomtogether with the others, all hurrying somewhere and afraid ofmissing something. Squeezed by the crowding noblemen, he drewnear the high table where the marshal of the province, Sviazhsky,and the other leaders were hotly disputing about something.