To put it plainly it was all brought about by the passionate sympathy and priceless, so to speak, classic friendship of Varvara Petrovna, if one may use such an expression of friendship.

He flung himself into the arms of this friendship, and his position was settled for more than twenty years.

I use the expression "flung himself into the arms of," but God forbid that anyone should fly to idle and superfluous conclusions.

These embraces must be understood only in the most loftily moral sense.

The most refined and delicate tie united these two beings, both so remarkable, for ever.
The post of tutor was the more readily accepted too, as the property--a very small one--left to Stepan Trofimovitch by his first wife was close to Skvoreshniki, the Stavrogins' magnificent estate on the outskirts of our provincial town.