Book 2 Chapter 24 Mariette Tempts Nekhludoff

When they left the Senate, Nekhludoff and the advocate walked on
together, the advocate having given the driver of his carriage
orders to follow them. The advocate told Nekhludoff the story of
the chief of a Government department, about whom the Senators had
been talking: how the thing was found out, and how the man, who
according to law should have been sent to the mines, had been
appointed Governor of a town in Siberia. Then he related with
particular pleasure how several high-placed persons stole a lot
of money collected for the erection of the still unfinished
monument which they had passed that morning; also, how the
mistress of So-and-so got a lot of money at the Stock Exchange,
and how So-and-so agreed with So-and-so to sell him his wife. The
advocate began another story about a swindle, and all sorts of
crimes committed by persons in high places, who, instead of being
in prison, sat on presidential chairs in all sorts of Government
institutions. These tales, of which the advocate seemed to have
an unending supply, gave him much pleasure, showing as they did,
with perfect clearness, that his means of getting money were
quite just and innocent compared to the means which the highest
officials in Petersburg made use of. The advocate was therefore
surprised when Nekhludoff took an isvostchik before hearing the
end of the story, said good-bye, and left him. Nekhludoff felt
very sad. It was chiefly the rejection of the appeal by the
Senate, confirming the senseless torments that the innocent
Maslova was enduring, that saddened him, and also the fact that
this rejection made it still harder for him to unite his fate
with hers. The stories about existing evils, which the advocate
recounted with such relish, heightened his sadness, and so did
the cold, unkind look that the once sweet-natured, frank, noble
Selenin had given him, and which kept recurring to his mind.