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Stepan Arkadyevitch had learned easily at school, thanks to his

excellent abilities, but he had been idle and mischievous, and

therefore was one of the lowest in his class But in spite of

his habitually dissipated rade in the

service, and his comparative youth, he occupied the honorable and

lucrative position of president of one of the governh his sister Anna's

husband, Alexey Alexandrovitch Karenin, who held one of the most

important positions in the ed But if Karenin had not got his brother-

in-law this berth, then through a hundred other personages--

brothers, sisters, cousins, uncles, and aunts--Stiva Oblonsky

would have received this post, or soether with the salary of six thousand absolutely needful for

him, as his affairs, in spite of his wife's considerable

property, were in an e were friends and relations of Stepan

Arkadyevitch He was born in the midst of those who had been and

are the powerful ones of this world One-third of the overnment, the older men, had been friends of his father's, and

had known him in petticoats; another third were his intimate

chums, and the remainder were friendly acquaintances