He remembered how before starting for Moscow he had once said to his cowman Nikolay, a simple-hearted peasant, whom he liked talking to: "Well, Nikolay! I mean to get married," and how Nikolay had promptly answered, as of a matter on which there could be no possible doubt: "And high time too, Konstantin Demitrievitch.

" But marriage had now become further off than ever.

The place was taken, and whenever he tried to imagine any of the girls he knew in that place, he felt that it was utterly impossible.

Moreover, the recollection of the rejection and the part he had played in the affair tortured him with shame.

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