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"Maybe I have. And do you know why? You'll say again that I'm a

reactionist, or some other terrible word; but all the same it

does annoy and anger me to see on all sides the impoverishing of

the nobility to which I belong, and, in spite of the amalgamation

of classes, I'm glad to belong. And their impoverishment is not

due to extravagance-that would be nothing; living in good

style-that's the proper thing for noblemen; it's only the nobles

who know how to do it. Now the peasants about us buy land, and I

don't mind that. The gentleman does nothing, while the peasant

works and supplants the idle man. That's as it ought to be. And

I'm very glad for the peasant. But I do mind seeing the process

of impoverishment from a sort of-I don't know what to call

it-innocence. Here a Polish speculator bought for half its value

a magnificent estate from a young lady who lives in Nice. And

there a merchant will get three acres of land, worth ten roubles,

as security for the loan of one rouble.