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"So you see," pursued Nikolay Levin, painfully wrinkling his

forehead and twitching.

It was obviously difficult for him to think of what to say and

do.

"Here, do you see?"... He pointed to some sort of iron bars,

fastened together with strings, lying in a corner of the room.

"Do you see that? That's the beginning of a new thing we're going

into. It's a productive association...."

Konstantin scarcely heard him. He looked into his sickly,

consumptive face, and he was more and more sorry for him, and he

could not force himself to listen to what his brother was telling

him about the association. He saw that this association was a

mere anchor to save him from self-contempt. Nikolay Levin went on

talking: