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He was impatiently looking forward to the news that she was

married, or just going to be married, hoping that such news

would, like having a tooth out, completely cure him.

Meanwhile spring came on, beautiful and kindly, without the

delays and treacheries of spring,-one of those rare springs in

which plants, beasts, and man rejoice alike. This lovely spring

roused Levin still more, and strengthened him in his resolution

of renouncing all his past and building up his lonely life firmly

and independently. Though many of the plans with which he had

returned to the country had not been carried out, still his most

important resolution-that of purity-had been kept by him. He was

free from that shame, which had usually harassed him after a

fall; and he could look everyone straight in the face. In

February he had received a letter from Marya Nikolaevna telling

him that his brother Nikolay's health was getting worse, but that

he would not take advice, and in consequence of this letter Levin

went to Moscow to his brother's and succeeded in persuading him

to see a doctor and to go to a watering-place abroad.