Stremov was a man of fifty, partly gray, but still vigorous-looking, very ugly, but with a characteristic and intelligent face.

Liza Merkalova was his wife's niece, and he spent all his leisure hours with her.

On meeting Anna Karenina, as he was Alexey Alexandrovitch's enemy in the government, he tried, like a shrewd man and a man of the world, to be particularly cordial with her, the wife of his enemy.

"'Nothing,'" he put in with a subtle smile, "that's the very best way.