Book 3 Chapter 6 Kryltzoffs Story

Nekhludoff grew especially fond of Kryltzoff, a consumptive young
man condemned to hard labour, who was going with the same gang as
Katusha. Nekhludoff had made his acquaintance already in
Ekaterinburg, and talked with him several times on the road after
that. Once, in summer, Nekhludoff spent nearly the whole of a day
with him at a halting station, and Kryltzoff, having once started
talking, told him his story and how he had become a
revolutionist. Up to the time of his imprisonment his story was
soon told. He lost his father, a rich landed proprietor in the
south of Russia, when still a child. He was the only son, and his
mother brought him up. He learned easily in the university, as
well as the gymnasium, and was first in the mathematical faculty
in his year. He was offered a choice of remaining in the
university or going abroad. He hesitated. He loved a girl and was
thinking of marriage, and taking part in the rural
administration. He did not like giving up either offer, and could
not make up his mind. At this time his fellow-students at the
university asked him for money for a common cause. He did not
know that this common cause was revolutionary, which he was not
interested in at that time, but gave the money from a sense of
comradeship and vanity, so that it should not be said that he was
afraid. Those who received the money were caught, a note was
found which proved that the money had been given by Kryltzoff, he
was arrested, and first kept at the police station, then
imprisoned.