‘The main change is that she’s brought a shadow with her — Alexei Vronsky,’ said the ambassador’s wife.
‘What of it? Grimm has a fable — a man without a shadow, a man deprived of a shadow.10 And it’s his punishment for something. I could never understand where the punishment lay. But it must be unpleasant for a woman to be without a shadow.’
‘Yes, but women with a shadow generally end badly,’ said Anna’s friend.
‘Button your lip,’ Princess Miagky suddenly said, hearing these words. ‘Karenina is a wonderful woman. Her husband I don’t like, but I like her very much.’
‘Why don’t you like the husband? He’s such a remarkable man,’ said the ambassador’s wife. ‘My husband says there are few such statesmen in Europe.’
‘And my husband says the same thing to me, but I don’t believe it,’ said Princess Miagky. ‘If our husbands didn’t say it, we’d see what’s there, and Alexei Alexandrovich, in my opinion, is simply stupid. I say it in a whisper ... Doesn’t that make everything clear? Before, when I was told to find him intelligent, I kept searching and found myself stupid for not seeing his intelligence; but as soon as I say “He’s stupid” in a whisper - everything becomes so clear, doesn’t it?’
‘How wicked you are today!’
‘Not in the least. I have no other way out. One of us is stupid. Well, and you know one can never say that about oneself.’
‘No one is pleased with his fortune, but everyone is pleased with his wit,’ said the diplomat, quoting some French verse.11
‘That’s it exactly.’ Princess Miagky turned to him hastily. ‘But the thing is that I won’t let you have Anna. She’s so dear, so sweet. What can she do if they’re all in love with her and follow her like shadows?’
‘But I never thought of judging her.’ Anna’s friend tried to excuse herself.
‘If no one follows us like a shadow, it doesn’t prove that we have the right to judge.’
And having dealt properly with Anna’s friend, Princess Miagky stood up and, together with the ambassador’s wife, joined the table where a conversation was going on about the king of Prussia.
‘Who were you maligning there?’ asked Betsy.
‘The Karenins. The princess gave a characterization of Alexei Alexandrovich,’ the ambassador’s wife replied with a smile, sitting down at the table.
‘A pity we didn’t hear it,’ said the hostess, glancing at the door. ‘Ah, here you are at last!’ She addressed Vronsky with a smile as he came in.
Vronsky was not only acquainted with all those he met there but saw them every day, and therefore he entered with that calm manner with which one enters a room full of people one has only just left.
‘Where am I coming from?’ he replied to the ambassador’s wife’s question. ‘No help for it, I must confess. From the
He named a French actress and wanted to tell some story about her; but the ambassador’s wife interrupted him in mock alarm:
‘Please, don’t talk about that horror.’
‘Well, I won’t then, the more so as everybody knows about these horrors.’
‘And everybody would have gone there, if it was as accepted as the opera,’ put in Princess Miagky.
VII
Steps were heard at the door, and Princess Betsy, knowing that it was Anna, glanced at Vronsky. He was looking at the door, and his face had a strange new expression. He was looking joyfully, intently, and at the same time timidly at the entering woman and slowly getting up from his seat. Anna was entering the drawing room. Holding herself extremely straight as always, with her quick, firm and light step, which distinguished her from other society women, and not changing the direction of her gaze, she took the few steps that separated her from the hostess, pressed her hand, smiled, and with that smile turned round to Vronsky. Vronsky made a low bow and moved a chair for her.
She responded only with an inclination of the head, then blushed and frowned. But at once, while quickly nodding to acquaintances and pressing the proffered hands, she addressed the hostess:
‘I was at Countess Lydia’s and intended to come earlier, but had to stay. Sir John was there. He’s very interesting.’
‘Ah, it’s that missionary?’
‘Yes, he was telling very interesting things about Indian life.’
The conversation, disrupted by her arrival, began to waver again like a lamp flame being blown out.
‘Sir John! Yes, Sir John. I’ve seen him. He speaks well. The Vlasyev girl is completely in love with him.’
‘And is it true that her younger sister is marrying Topov?’
‘Yes, they say it’s quite decided.’
‘I’m surprised at the parents. They say it’s a marriage of passion.’
‘Of passion? What antediluvian thoughts you have! Who talks about passions these days?’ said the ambassador’s wife.
‘What’s to be done? This stupid old fashion hasn’t gone out of use,’ said Vronsky.
‘So much the worse for those who cling to it. The only happy marriages I know are arranged ones.’
