too, he had a peculiar idea of his own; he thought that increase was a lower function of man, the highest function being to serve the already existing lives.  He found a confirmation of his theory in the fact that there were phacocytes in the blood.  Celibates, according to his opinion, were the same as phacocytes, their function being to help the weak and the sickly particles of the organism.  From the moment he came to this conclusion he began to consider himself as well as Mary Pavlovna as phacocytes, and to live accordingly, though as a youth he had been addicted to vice.  His love for Katusha did not infringe this conception, because he loved her platonically, and such love he considered could not hinder his activity as a phacocytes, but acted, on the contrary, as an inspiration.

Not only moral, but also most practical questions he decided in his own way.  He applied a theory of his own to all practical business, had rules relating to the number of hours for rest and for work, to the kind of food to eat, the way to dress, to heat and light up the rooms.  With all this Simonson was very shy and modest; and yet when he had once made up his mind nothing could make him waver.  And this man had a decided influence on Maslova through his love for her.  With a woman’s instinct Maslova very soon found out that he loved her.  And the fact that she could awaken love in a man of that kind raised her in her own estimation.  It was Nekhludoff’s magnanimity and what had been in the past that made him offer to marry her, but Simonson loved her such as she was now, loved her simply because of the love he bore her.  And she felt that Simonson considered her to be an exceptional woman, having peculiarly high moral qualities.  She did not quite know what the qualities he attributed to her were, but in order to be on the safe side and that he should not be disappointed in her, she tried with all her might to awaken in herself all the highest qualities she could conceive, and she tried to be as good as possible.  This had begun while they were still in prison, when on a common visiting day she had noticed his kindly dark blue eyes gazing fixedly at her from under his projecting brow.  Even then she had noticed that this was a peculiar man, and that he was looking at her in a peculiar manner, and had also noticed the striking combination of sternness—­the unruly hair and the frowning forehead gave him this appearance—­with the child-like kindness and innocence of his look.  She saw him again in Tomsk, where she joined the political prisoners.  Though they had not uttered a word, their looks told plainly that they had understood one another.  Even after that they had had no serious conversation with each other, but Maslova felt that when he spoke in her presence his words were addressed to her, and that he spoke for her sake, trying to express himself as plainly as he could; but it was when he started walking with the criminal prisoners that they grew specially near to one another.