His father's immense property, which alone yielded a yearly income of two hundred thousand, was left undivided between the brothers.

At the time when the elder brother, with a mass of debts, married Princess Varya Tchirkova, the daughter of a Decembrist without any fortune whatever, Alexey had given up to his elder brother almost the whole income from his father's estate, reserving for himself only twenty-five thousand a year from it.

Alexey had said at the time to his brother that that sum would be sufficient for him until he married, which he probably never would do.

And his brother, who was in command of one of the most expensive regiments, and was only just married, could not decline the gift.