“Erast was noble, rich and young; intelligence, upbringing, courtesy in society, a kind, sensitive heart made him one of the first young people in the capital. Living in the best circle of people, he had many profitable matches in mind: every mother wanted to have a son-in-law like Erast, every girl would willingly give him her hand and heart, it depended on him to be completely happy; but his novelism removed such unions from his thoughts. He wanted to have a wife, brought up not in the whirlwind of city life, but in rural simplicity, as innocent, meek as nature itself...”