Book 3 Chapter 24 The Generals Household

In spite of his ineffectual attempt at the prison, Nekhludoff,
still in the same vigorous, energetic frame of mind, went to the
Governor's office to see if the original of the document had
arrived for Maslova. It had not arrived, so Nekhludoff went back
to the hotel and wrote without delay to Selenin and the advocate
about it. When he had finished writing he looked at his watch and
saw it was time to go to the General's dinner party.

On the way he again began wondering how Katusha would receive the
news of the mitigation of her sentence. Where she would be
settled? How he should live with her? What about Simonson? What
would his relations to her be? He remembered the change that had
taken place in her, and this reminded him of her past. "I must
forget it for the present," he thought, and again hastened to
drive her out of his mind. "When the time comes I shall see," he
said to himself, and began to think of what he ought to say to
the General.

The dinner at the General's, with the luxury habitual to the
lives of the wealthy and those of high rank, to which Nekhludoff
had been accustomed, was extremely enjoyable after he had been so
long deprived not only of luxury but even of the most ordinary
comforts. The mistress of the house was a Petersburg grande dame
of the old school, a maid of honour at the court of Nicholas I.,
who spoke French quite naturally and Russian very unnaturally.
She held herself very erect and, moving her hands, she kept her
elbows close to her waist. She was quietly and, somewhat sadly
considerate for her husband, and extremely kind to all her
visitors, though with a tinge of difference in her behaviour
according to their position. She received Nekhludoff as if he
were one of them, and her fine, almost imperceptible flattery
made him once again aware of his virtues and gave him a feeling
of satisfaction. She made him feel that she knew of that honest
though rather singular step of his which had brought him to
Siberia, and held him to be an exceptional man. This refined
flattery and the elegance and luxury of the General's house had
the effect of making Nekhludoff succumb to the enjoyment of the
handsome surroundings, the delicate dishes and the ease and
pleasure of intercourse with educated people of his own class, so
that the surroundings in the midst of which he had lived for the
last months seemed a dream from which he had awakened to reality.
Besides those of the household, the General's daughter and her
husband and an aide-de-camp, there were an Englishman, a merchant
interested in gold mines, and the governor of a distant Siberian
town. All these people seemed pleasant to Nekhludoff. The
Englishman, a healthy man with a rosy complexion, who spoke very
bad French, but whose command of his own language was very good
and oratorically impressive, who had seen a great deal, was very
interesting to listen to when he spoke about America, India,
Japan and Siberia.