‘Ah, they’re here already!’ said Anna, looking at the saddle horses which were just being led away from the porch. ‘Isn’t that a fine horse? He’s a cob. My favourite. Bring him here and get me some sugar. Where’s the count?’ she asked of the two liveried footmen who came running out. ‘Ah, here he is!’ she said, seeing Vronsky and Veslovsky coming to meet them.
‘Where will you put the princess?’ Vronsky said in French, addressing Anna, and without waiting for an answer he greeted Darya Alexandrovna again, this time kissing her hand. ‘In the big bedroom with the balcony, I assume?’
‘Oh, no, it’s too far away! Better in the corner room, we’ll see more of each other. Well, come along,’ said Anna, giving her favourite horse the sugar that the footman had brought her.
‘That’s what I promised, and the children...’ said Dolly, feeling embarrassed both because she had to take her handbag from the carriage and because she knew that her face must be quite covered with dust.
‘No, Dolly, darling ... Well, we’ll see. Come along, come along!’ And Anna took Dolly to her room.
This room was not the fancy one Vronsky had suggested, but one for which Anna said that Dolly must excuse her. And this room for which excuses were offered was filled with such luxury as Dolly had never lived in and reminded her of the best hotels abroad.
‘Well, darling, how happy I am!’ said Anna, sitting down in her riding habit for a moment beside Dolly. ‘Tell me about your family. I saw Stiva in passing, but he can’t talk about the children. How’s my favourite, Tanya? A big girl, I suppose?’
‘Yes, very big,’ Darya Alexandrovna replied curtly, surprised at herself for answering so coldly about her children. ‘We’re having a wonderful stay with the Levins.’
‘If only I’d known you don’t despise me ...’ said Anna. ‘You could all come to stay with us. Stiva is an old and great friend of Alexei’s,’ she added and suddenly blushed.
‘Yes, but we’re so nicely ...’ Dolly replied, embarrassed.
‘Yes, anyhow I’m talking foolishly from joy. One thing, darling, is that I’m so glad you’ve come!’ Anna said, kissing her again. ‘You haven’t told me yet how and what you think of me, and I want to know everything. But I’m glad you’ll see me as I am. Above all, I wouldn’t want people to think that I want to prove anything. I don’t want to prove anything, I simply want to live; to cause no evil to anyone but myself. I have that right, haven’t I? However, that’s a long conversation, and we’ll still have a good talk about it all. Now I’ll go and dress, and I’ll send you a maid.’
XIX
Left alone, Darya Alexandrovna looked round her room with a housewifely eye. Everything she had seen while approaching the house and passing through it, and now in her own room, gave her an impression of opulence and display and that new European luxury she had only read about in English novels but had never seen in Russia, let alone in the country. Everything was new, from the new French wallpaper to the carpet that covered the entire floor. The bed had springs and a mattress, a special headboard, and little pillows with raw-silk slips. The marble washstand, the dressing table, the couch, the tables, the bronze clock on the mantelpiece, the curtains on the windows and doors - it was all expensive and new.
The smart maid who came to offer her services, her dress and coiffure more fashionable than Dolly‘s, was as new and expensive as the rest of the room. Darya Alexandrovna liked her politeness, neatness and obliging manner, but she felt ill at ease with her; she was embarrassed before her for the patched chemise which, as ill luck would have it, she had packed by mistake. She was ashamed of those very patches and mendings which she had been so proud of at home. At home it was clear that for six chemises she needed seventeen yards of nainsook at ninety kopecks a yard, which would come to over fifteen roubles, besides the work and the trimmings, and these were fifteen roubles gained. But in front of the maid she felt not so much ashamed as ill at ease.
It was a great relief for Darya Alexandrovna when her old acquaintance, Annushka, came into the room. The smart maid was needed by her mistress, and Annushka stayed with Darya Alexandrovna.
Annushka was obviously very glad of the lady’s arrival and talked incessantly. Dolly noticed that she wanted to give her opinion of her mistress’s situation, especially of the count’s love and devotion for Anna, but Dolly took care to interrupt her each time she began to speak of it.
