Anna Karenina - Part 1 - Page 14/119

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 mode of life, his inferior grade in the

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

lucrative position of president of one of the government boards

at Moscow. This post he had received through his sister Anna's

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

important positions in the ministry to whose department the

Moscow office belonged. 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 some other similar one,

together with the salary of six thousand absolutely needful for

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

property, were in an embarrassed condition.

Half Moscow and Petersburg 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 men in the

government, 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.

Consequently the distributors of earthly blessings in the shape

of places, rents, shares, and such, were all his friends, and

could not overlook one of their own set; and Oblonsky had no need

to make any special exertion to get a lucrative post. He had

only not to refuse things, not to show jealousy, not to be

quarrelsome or take offense, all of which from his

characteristic good nature he never did. It would have struck

him as absurd if he had been told that he would not get a

position with the salary he required, especially as he expected

nothing out of the way; he only wanted what the men of his own

age and standing did get, and he was no worse qualified for

performing duties of the kind than any other man.

Stepan Arkadyevitch was not merely liked by all who knew him for

his good humor, but for his bright disposition, and his

unquestionable honesty. In him, in his handsome, radiant figure,

his sparkling eyes, black hair and eyebrows, and the white and

red of his face, there was something which produced a physical

effect of kindliness and good humor on the people who met him.

"Aha! Stiva! Oblonsky! Here he is!" was almost always said

with a smile of delight on meeting him. Even though it happened

at times that after a conversation with him it seemed that

nothing particularly delightful had happened, the next day, and

the next, every one was just as delighted at meeting him again.