He did not raise his voice (he recollected that Mihalevitch too had called him antiquated but an antiquated Voltairean), and calmly proceeded to refute Panshin at all points.

He proved to him the impracticability of sudden leaps and reforms from above, founded neither on knowledge of the mother-country, nor on any genuine faith in any ideal, even a negative one.

He brought forward his own education as an example, and demanded before all things a recognition of the true spirit of the people and submission to it, without which even a courageous combat against error is impossible.

Finally he admitted the reproach--well-deserved as he thought--of reckless waste of time and strength.
"That is all very fine!" cried Panshin at last, getting angry.

"You now have just returned to Russia, what do you intend to do ?" "Cultivate the soil," answered Lavretsky, "and try to cultivate it as well as possible." "That is very praiseworthy, no doubt," rejoined Panshin, "and I have been told that you have already had great success in that line; but you must allow that not every one is fit for pursuits of that kind." "Une nature poetique," observed Marya Dmitrievna, "cannot, to be sure, cultivate...