It was something unconscious, a feeling; but was all the stronger for being unrecognised.

He could not bring himself, however, to take any decisive step till his father's death.

But he began to be well known for his "gentlemanly" ideas to many persons of high position in Petersburg, with whom he strenuously kept up connections.

He was secretive and self-contained.

Another characteristic: he belonged to that strange section of the nobility, still surviving in Russia, who set an extreme value on their pure and ancient lineage, and take it too seriously.