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wasn't at all bad Where were you?"

"I was late at the Tverskoys'," said Vronsky

"Ah!" responded Yashvin

Yashvin, a gambler and a rake, a man not merely without moral

principles, but of ireatest friend in the regiment Vronsky liked hith, which he showed for theable to drink like a fish, and do without sleep without

being in the slightest degree affected by it; and for his great

strength of character, which he showed in his relations with his

co both fear and respect,

and also at cards, when he would play for tens of thousands and

however ht have drunk, alith such skill and

decision that he was reckoned the best player in the English

Club Vronsky respected and liked Yashvin particularly because

he felt Yashvin liked him, not for his name and his money, but

for himself And of all men he was the only one hom

Vronsky would have liked to speak of his love He felt that

Yashvin, in spite of his apparent conte, was the only man who could, so he fancied, comprehend

the intense passion which now filled his whole life Moreover,

he felt certain that Yashvin, as it was, took no delight in

gossip and scandal, and interpreted his feeling rightly, that is

to say, knew and believed that this passion was not a jest, not a

pasti more serious and important