itch. At that time her
faith in him was unshaken. One can't help believing that the tutor had
rather a bad influence on his pupil's nerves. When at sixteen he was
taken to a lyceum he was fragile-looking and pale, strangely quiet and
dreamy. (Later on he was distinguished by great physical strength.)
One must assume too that the friends went on weeping at night, throwing
themselves in each other's arms, though their tears were not always due
to domestic difficulties. Stepan Trofimovitch succeeded in reaching
the deepest chords in his pupil's heart, and had aroused in him a vague
sensation of that eternal, sacred yearning which some elect souls can
never give up for cheap gratification when once they have tasted and
known it. (There are some connoisseurs who prize this yearning more than
the most complete satisfaction of it, if such were possible.) But in any
case it was just as well that the pupil and the preceptor were, though
none too soon, parted.

For the first two years the lad used to come home from the lyceum
for the holidays. While Varvara Petrovna and Stepan Trofimovitch were
staying in Petersburg he was sometimes present at the literary evenings
at his mother's, he listened and looked on. He spoke little, and was
quiet and shy as before. His manner to Stepan Trofimovitch was as
affectionately attentive as ever, but there was a shade of reserve in
it. He unmistakably avoided distressing, lofty subjects or reminiscences
of the past. By his mother's wish he entered the army on completing
the school course, and soon received a commission in one of the most
brilliant regiments of the Horse Guards. He did not come to show himself
to his mother in his uniform, and his letters from Petersburg began to
be infrequent. Varvara Petrovna sent him money without stint, though
after the emancipation the revenue from her estate was so diminished
that at first her income was less than half what it had been before. She
had, however, a considerable sum laid by through years of economy.
She took great interest in her son's success in the highest Petersburg
society. Where she had failed, the wealthy young officer with
expectations succeeded. He renewed acquaintances which she had hardly
dared to dream of, and was welcomed everywhere with pleasure. But very
soon rather strange rumours reached Varvara Petrovna. The young man
had suddenly taken to riotous living with a sort of frenzy. Not that he
gambled or drank too much; there was o