Watching the streak of smoke, Sergey Ivanovitch walked gently on, deliberating on his position.

"Why not?" he thought.

" If it were only a passing fancy or a passion, if it were only this attraction--this mutual attraction (I can call it a _mutual_ attraction), but if I felt that it was in contradiction with the whole bent of my life--if I felt that in giving way to this attraction I should be false to my vocation and my duty...but it's not so.

The only thing I can say against it is that, when I lost Marie, I said to myself that I would remain faithful to her memory.