The dilemma in which Ivan found himself was this:  in deference to his father he wished to be in the service and gain that official rank which every Russian noble desires to possess, and at the same time, in deference to his mother and his own tastes, he wished to remain at home and continue his indolent mode of life.  The Marshal of the Noblesse, who happened to call one day, helped him out of the difficulty by offering to inscribe him as secretary in the Dvoryanskaya Opeka, a bureau which acts as curator for the estates of minors.  All the duties of this office could be fulfilled by a paid secretary, and the nominal occupant would be periodically promoted as if he were an active official.  This was precisely what Ivan required.  He accepted eagerly the proposal, and obtained, in the course of seven years, without any effort on his part, the rank of “collegiate secretary,” corresponding to the “capitaine-en-second” of the military hierarchy.  To mount higher he would have had to seek some place where he could not have fulfilled his duty by proxy, so he determined to rest on his laurels, and sent in his resignation.

Immediately after the termination of his official life his married life began.  Before his resignation had been accepted he suddenly found himself one morning on the high road to matrimony.  Here again there was no effort on his part.  The course of true love, which is said never to run smooth for ordinary mortals, ran smooth for him.  He never had even the trouble of proposing.  The whole affair was arranged by his parents, who chose as bride for their son the only daughter of their nearest neighbour.  The young lady was only about sixteen years of age, and was not remarkable for beauty, talent, or any other peculiarity, but she had one very important qualification—­she was the daughter of a man who had an estate contiguous to their own, and who might give as a dowry a certain bit of land which they had long desired to add to their own property.  The negotiations, being of a delicate nature, were entrusted to an old lady who had a great reputation for diplomatic skill in such matters, and she accomplished her mission with such success that in the course of a few weeks the preliminaries were arranged and the day fixed for the wedding.  Thus Ivan Ivan’itch won his bride as easily as he had won his tchin of “collegiate secretary.”

Though the bridegroom had received rather than taken to himself a wife, and did not imagine for a moment that he was in love, he had no reason to regret the choice that was made for him.  Maria Petrovna was exactly suited by character and education to be the wife of a man like Ivan Ivan’itch.  She had grown up at home in the society of nurses and servant-maids, and had never learned anything more than could be obtained from the parish priest and from “Ma’mselle,” a personage occupying a position midway between a servant-maid and a governess.  The first events of her life were the announcement