_"O sancta simplicitas!"_ said Stepan Arkadyevitch, and briefly and clearly he explained it to Levin.

If, as at previous elections, all the districts asked the marshal of the province to stand, then he would be elected without a ballot.

That must not be.

Now eight districts had agreed to call upon him: if two refused to do so, Snetkov might decline to stand at all; and then the old party might choose another of their party, which would throw them completely out in their reckoning.