Anna Karenina (Penguin) - Leo Tolstoy [131]
Kitty blushed with joy and for a long time silently pressed her new friend’s hand, which did not respond to this pressing but lay motionless in her hand. But though her hand did not respond, the face of Mlle Varenka lit up with a quiet, joyful, though also somewhat sad smile, revealing big but beautiful teeth.
‘I’ve long wanted this myself,’ she said.
‘But you’re so busy ...’
‘Ah, on the contrary, I’m not busy at all,’ replied Varenka, but that same minute she had to leave her new acquaintances because two little Russian girls, daughters of one of the patients, came running to her.
‘Varenka, mama’s calling!’ they shouted.
And Varenka went after them.
XXXII
The details that the princess had learned about Varenka’s past and her relations with Mme Stahl, and about Mme Stahl herself, were the following.
Mme Stahl, of whom some said that she had tormented her husband, and others that he had tormented her with his immoral behaviour, had always been a sickly and rapturous woman. She gave birth to her first child when she was already divorced from her husband. The child died at once, and Mme Stahl’s family, knowing her susceptibility and fearing the news might kill her, replaced the baby, taking the daughter of a court cook born the same night and in the same house in Petersburg. This was Varenka. Mme Stahl learned later that Varenka was not her daughter, but continued to bring her up, the more so as Varenka soon afterwards had no family left.
Mme Stahl had lived abroad in the south for a period of more than ten years, never getting out of bed. Some said that she had made a social position for herself as a virtuous, highly religious woman, while others said that she was at heart that same highly moral being she made herself out to be, living only for the good of others. No one knew what religion she adhered to - Catholic, Orthodox or Protestant - but one thing was certain: she was in friendly relations with the highest persons of all Churches and confessions.
Varenka lived permanently abroad with her, and all who knew Mme Stahl, knew and loved Mlle Varenka, as everyone called her.
Having learned all these details, the princess found nothing reprehensible in her daughter making friends with Varenka, especially since Varenka had the very best manners and upbringing: she spoke excellent French and English and, above all, conveyed regrets from Mme Stahl that, owing to her illness, she was deprived of the pleasure of making the princess’s acquaintance.
Once she had made Varenka’s acquaintance, Kitty became more and more charmed by her friend and found new virtues in her every day.
The princess, on hearing that Varenka sang well, invited her to come to them in the evening to sing.
‘Kitty plays, and we have a piano, not a good one, true, but you will give us great pleasure,’ the princess said with her false smile, which was now especially unpleasant for Kitty because she noticed that Varenka did not want to sing. But Varenka nevertheless came in the evening and brought with her a book of music. The princess invited Marya Evgenyevna with her daughter and the colonel.
Varenka seemed perfectly indifferent to the fact that there were people there whom she did not know, and went to the piano at once. She could not accompany herself, but vocally she could sight-read music wonderfully. Kitty, who played well, accompanied her.
‘You have extraordinary talent,’ the princess said to Varenka, after she had sung the first piece beautifully.
Marya Evgenyevna and her daughter thanked and praised her.
‘Look,’ said the colonel, glancing out the window, ‘what an audience has gathered to listen to you.’ Indeed, a rather big crowd had gathered by the windows.
‘I’m very glad that it gives you pleasure,’ Varenka replied simply.
Kitty looked at her friend with pride. She admired her art, and her voice, and her face, but most of all she admired her manner, the fact that Varenka evidently did not think much of her singing and was perfectly indifferent to praise; she seemed to ask only: must I sing more,