Cette immense fresque de l'aristocratie mêlée au peuple russe, à la ville comme aux champs, fait partie des grandes oeuvres de l'humanité. "En elles, il y a tout: les vrais hommes; les vraies femmes, l'amour et la haine, "l'élite" et le peuple, la naissance et la mort, le travail et la pensée."

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1899 edition. Excerpt: ...I must say that the last case is rarely met with in practice," said the lawyer; and he glanced at his client and waited like a gunsmith who explains to a purchaser the use of two pistols of different caliber, leaving him free to choose between them. But AlekseY Aleksandrovitch remaining silent, he continued: —"The commonest, simplest, and most reasonable way, in my opinion, is to recognize the guilt by mutual agreement. I should not allow myself to say this if I were talking to a man of less experience than yourself," said the lawyer, "but I suppose that this is comprehensible to you." Aleksei Aleksandrovitch, however, was so troubled that he did not at the first moment realize the reasonableness of "adultery, by mutual agreement," and this uncertainty was to be read in his eyes; but the lawyer came at once to his aid. "Suppose that a man and wife can no longer live together; if both consent to a divorce, the details and formalities amount to nothing. This is the simplest and surest way." Aleksel Aleksandrovitch understood now, but he had religious convictions which stood in the way of his employing this measure. "In the present case this means is out of the question," said he. "Here only one case is possible: compulsory conviction, supported by letters which are in my possession." At the mention of letters, the lawyer, pressing his lips together, uttered an exclamation both of pity and disdain. "Please take notice," he began, "affairs of this sort are, as you well know, decided by the upper clergy," he said. "Our Fathers the protopopes are great connoisseurs in affairs of this kind and attend to the minutest details," said he, with a smile which showed his sympathy for the protopopes. "Letters undoubtedly might serve as partial evidence....