from his long slumber, and came to himself again from his long wandering in sin. His conscience, which had lain hidden for so long, began once more to raise its head in self-assertion; he saw how profligate, how lawless, how despicably mean, his whole conduct had been, and the realization made him tremble all over with uncontrollable terror.
6. Then a sudden thought flashed across his mind. If he exerted himself to save the wretched Cassia from her fate, the fact of his former connexion with her must come to the light, and his own good name would be irretrievably lost. Then of course his projected marriage with Missha could never take place. Was it incumbent on him, he asked himself, to save Cassia at the cost of such a sacrifice? Was it not rather his duty to carry out his project of marriage with Missha, and honourably to meet his engagements to Society? He was in a state of great perplexity and doubt, as you may for yourself see by consulting the pages of Tolstoi's novel.
