He himself had not gone to the church to hear Batushka read the Tsar's manifesto, but his master, on returning from the ceremony, had called him and said, "Anton, you are free now, but the Tsar says you are to serve as you have done for two years longer." To this startling announcement Anton had replied coolly, "Slushayus," or, as we would say, "Yes, sir," and without further comment had gone to fetch his master's breakfast; but what he saw and heard during the next few weeks greatly troubled his old conceptions of human society and the fitness of things.

From that time must be dated, I suppose, the expression of mental confusion which his face habitually wore.
The first thing that roused his indignation was the conduct of his fellow-servants.

Nearly all the unmarried ones seemed to be suddenly attacked by a peculiar matrimonial mania.

The reason of this was that the new law expressly gave permission to the emancipated serfs to marry as they chose without the consent of their masters, and nearly all the unmarried adults hastened to take advantage of their newly-acquired privilege, though many of them had great difficulty in raising the capital necessary to pay the priest's fees.

Then came disorders among the peasantry, the death of the old master, and the removal of the family first to St.Petersburg, and afterwards to Germany.