“A hundred and twenty-six for admission!  Ninety-eight against!” sang out the voice of the secretary, who could not pronounce the letter r.  Then there was a laugh; a button and two nuts were found in the box.  The nobleman was allowed the right to vote, and the new party had conquered.

But the old party did not consider themselves conquered.  Levin heard that they were asking Snetkov to stand, and he saw that a crowd of noblemen was surrounding the marshal, who was saying something.  Levin went nearer.  In reply Snetkov spoke of the trust the noblemen of the province had placed in him, the affection they had shown him, which he did not deserve, as his only merit had been his attachment to the nobility, to whom he had devoted twelve years of service.  Several times he repeated the words:  “I have served to the best of my powers with truth and good faith, I value your goodness and thank you,” and suddenly he stopped short from the tears that choked him, and went out of the room.  Whether these tears came from a sense of the injustice being done him, from his love for the nobility, or from the strain of the position he was placed in, feeling himself surrounded by enemies, his emotion infected the assembly, the majority were touched, and Levin felt a tenderness for Snetkov.

In the doorway the marshal of the province jostled against Levin.

“Beg pardon, excuse me, please,” he said as to a stranger, but recognizing Levin, he smiled timidly.  It seemed to Levin that he would have liked to say something, but could not speak for emotion.  His face and his whole figure in his uniform with the crosses, and white trousers striped with braid, as he moved hurriedly along, reminded Levin of some hunted beast who sees that he is in evil case.  This expression in the marshal’s face was particularly touching to Levin, because, only the day before, he had been at his house about his trustee business and had seen him in all his grandeur, a kind-hearted, fatherly man.  The big house with the old family furniture; the rather dirty, far from stylish, but respectful footmen, unmistakably old house serfs who had stuck to their master; the stout, good-natured wife in a cap with lace and a Turkish shawl, petting her pretty grandchild, her daughter’s daughter; the young son, a sixth form high school boy, coming home from school, and greeting his father, kissing his big hand; the genuine, cordial words and gestures of the old man—­all this had the day before roused an instinctive feeling of respect and sympathy in Levin.  This old man was a touching and pathetic figure to Levin now, and he longed to say something pleasant to him.

“So you’re sure to be our marshal again,” he said.

“It’s not likely,” said the marshal, looking round with a scared expression.  “I’m worn out, I’m old.  If there are men younger and more deserving than I, let them serve.”

And the marshal disappeared through a side door.