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Leaving the school very young as a brilliant officer, he had at

once got into the circle of wealthy Petersburg army men. Although

he did go more or less into Petersburg society, his love affairs

had always hitherto been outside it.

In Moscow he had for the first time felt, after his luxurious and

coarse life at Petersburg, all the charm of intimacy with a sweet

and innocent girl of his own rank, who cared for him. It never

even entered his head that there could be any harm in his

relations with Kitty. At balls he danced principally with her. He

was a constant visitor at their house. He talked to her as people

commonly do talk in society-all sorts of nonsense, but nonsense

to which he could not help attaching a special meaning in her

case. Although he said nothing to her that he could not have said

before everybody, he felt that she was becoming more and more

dependent upon him, and the more he felt this, the better he

liked it, and the tenderer was his feeling for her.