entirely different appearance. It is small, but at once
comfortable and elegant. The principal objects which it contains are a
library-table, with ink-stand, presse-papier, paper-knives, and other
articles in keeping, and in the opposite corner a large bookcase. The
collection of books is remarkable, not from the number of volumes or
the presence of rare editions, but from the variety of the subjects.
History, art, fiction, the drama, political economy, and agriculture
are represented in about equal proportions. Some of the works are
in Russian, others in German, a large number in French, and a few
in Italian. The collection illustrates the former life and present
occupations of the owner.

The father of Victor Alexandr'itch was a landed proprietor who had
made a successful career in the civil service, and desired that his son
should follow the same profession. For this purpose Victor was first
carefully trained at home, and then sent to the University of Moscow,
where he spent four years as a student of law. From the University he
passed to the Ministry of the Interior in St. Petersburg, but he found
the monotonous routine of official life not at all suited to his taste,
and very soon sent in his resignation. The death of his father had made
him proprietor of an estate, and thither he retired, hoping to find
there plenty of occupation more congenial than the writing of official
papers.

At the University of Moscow he had attended lectures on history and
philosophy, and had got through a large amount of desultory reading.
The chief result of his studies was the acquisition of many ill-digested
general principles, and certain vague, generous, humanitarian
aspirations. With this intellectual capital he hoped to lead a useful
life in the country. When he had repaired and furnished the house he set
himself to improve the estate. In the course of his promiscuous reading
he had stumbled on some descriptions of English and Tuscan agriculture,
and had there learned what wonders might be effected by a rational
system of farming. Why should not Russia follow the example of England
and Tuscany? By proper drainage, plentiful manure, good ploughs, and the
cultivation of artificial grasses, the production might be multiplied
tenfold; and by the introduction of agricultural machines the manual
labour might be greatly diminished. All this seemed as simple as a sum
in arithmetic, and Victor Alexandr'itch, more scholarum rei familiaris