Anna Karenina полностью

‘And I’m somewhat in agreement with your beau-frère,’ said Anna. ‘Only not in the same way,’ she added with a smile. ‘I’m afraid we’ve had too many of these social responsibilities lately. Just as there used to be so many officials that there had to be an official for every case, so now it’s all social activists. Alexei’s been here six months and he’s already a member of five or six social institutions - he’s a trustee, a judge, a councillor, a juror, and something to do with horses. Du train que cela va,^cn all his time will be spent on it. And I’m afraid when there’s such a host of these affairs, it’s all just form. How many places are you a member of, Nikolai Ivanych?’ She turned to Sviyazhsky. ‘More than twenty, isn’t it?’

Anna spoke playfully, but irritation could be felt in her voice. Darya Alexandrovna, who was observing Anna and Vronsky very closely, noticed it at once. She also noticed that Vronsky’s face during this conversation immediately acquired a serious and stubborn expression. Noticing this and the fact that, to change the subject, Princess Varvara at once began talking hurriedly of some Petersburg acquaintances, and recalling Vronsky’s stray remarks in the garden about his activities, Dolly understood that the question of social activity was connected with some private quarrel between Anna and Vronsky.

The dinner, the wines, the table - it was all very fine, but it was all the same as Darya Alexandrovna had seen at big formal dinners and balls, which she had become unused to, and had the same impersonal and strained character; and therefore, on an ordinary day and in a small circle, it all made an unpleasant impression on her.

After dinner they sat on the terrace for a while. Then they began to play lawn tennis. The players, dividing into two groups, installed themselves on a carefully levelled and rolled croquet-ground, on either side of a net stretched between two gilded posts. Darya Alexandrovna tried to play, but at first she could not understand the game, and by the time she did understand it, she was so tired that she sat down with Princess Varvara and merely watched. Her partner, Tushkevich, also dropped out; but the others went on with the game for a long time. Sviyazhsky and Vronsky both played very well and seriously. They kept a sharp eye on the ball sent to them, ran to it adroitly, without haste or delay, waited for it to bounce and, hitting the ball squarely and firmly with the racket, sent it back over the net. Veslovsky played worse than the others. He got too excited, but, to make up for it, he enlivened the other players with his merriment. His laughter and shouting never ceased. With the ladies’ permission, he removed his frock coat, as did the other men, and his big, handsome figure in white shirtsleeves, with his red, sweaty face and brisk movements, etched itself in the memory.

When Darya Alexandrovna went to bed that night, the moment she closed her eyes she saw Vasenka Veslovsky dashing about the croquet-ground.

But during the game Darya Alexandrovna was not happy. She did not like the playful relations between Vasenka Veslovsky and Anna, which went on all the while, and that general unnaturalness of grown-ups when they play at a children’s game by themselves, without children. But, so as not to upset the others and to pass the time somehow, she joined the game again, after resting, and pretended to have fun. All that day she had had the feeling that she was playing in the theatre with actors better than herself and that her poor playing spoiled the whole thing.

She had come with the intention of spending two days if all went well. But that same evening, during the game, she decided to leave the next day. Those painful cares of motherhood that she had hated so on her way there, now, after a day spent without them, presented themselves to her in a different light and drew her to them.

When, after the evening tea and a late boat ride, Darya Alexandrovna went to her room alone, got undressed and sat down to do her thin hair for the night, she felt great relief.

It was even unpleasant for her to think that Anna would shortly come to her. She wanted to be alone with her thoughts.

XXIII

Dolly was about to get into bed when Anna came in dressed for the night.

During the day Anna had several times begun talking about her intimate affairs and had stopped each time after a few words. ‘Later, when we’re alone, we’ll discuss everything. There’s so much I must tell you,’ she had said.

Now they were alone and Anna did not know what to talk about. She sat by the window, looking at Dolly and going through all that seemingly inexhaustible store of intimate conversation, and found nothing. It seemed to her just then that everything had already been said.

‘Well, how’s Kitty?’ she said, sighing heavily and looking guiltily at Dolly. ‘Tell me the truth, Dolly, is she angry with me?’

‘Angry? No,’ Darya Alexandrovna said, smiling.

‘But she hates me, despises me?’