"I don't advocate protection for the sake of private interests, but for the public weal, and for the lower and upper classes equally," he said, looking over his pince-nez at Oblonsky.

" But _they_ cannot grasp that, _they_ are taken up now with personal interests, and carried away by phrases.

" Stepan Arkadyevitch knew that when Karenin began to talk of what _they_ were doing and thinking, the persons who would not accept his report and were the cause of everything wrong in Russia, that it was coming near the end.

And so now he eagerly abandoned the principle of free-trade, and fully agreed.

Alexey Alexandrovitch paused, thoughtfully turning over the pages of his manuscript.