Even as
Arkady reflects on the estate’s disrepair, however, the beauty of spring is evident—shining trees, singing larks, and whitening rye.
Nikolai optimistically tells his son what a good life they’ll share—“we must draw close to one another now, get to know each other properly.” Observing the beauty of the day, Nikolai begins to quote a line from Pushkin’s
Eugene Onegin, but a shout from
Bazarov, requesting a match for his pipe, interrupts him. Arkady begins to smoke a cigar, and Nikolai discreetly averts his nose from the acrid smell. A quarter of an hour later, the vehicles pull up in front of Maryino, which the peasants call “The Farm-without-any-land.”