Anna Karenina (Penguin) - Leo Tolstoy [397]
‘Levin!’ said Stepan Arkadyich, and Levin noticed that his eyes, though not tearful, were moist, as always happened with him when he was drinking or very moved. This time it was both. ‘Levin, don’t go,’ he said and held him tightly by the elbow, obviously not wishing him to leave for anything.
‘This is my truest, maybe even my best friend,’ he said to Vronsky. ‘You, too, are even nearer and dearer to me. And I want you to be and know that you should be close friends, because you’re both good people.’
‘Well, all that’s left is for us to kiss,’ Vronsky said with good-natured humour, giving him his hand.
Levin quickly took the proffered hand and pressed it firmly.
‘I’m very, very glad,’ he said.
‘Waiter, a bottle of champagne,’ said Stepan Arkadyich.
‘I’m very glad, too,’ said Vronsky.
But, despite Stepan Arkadyich’s wishes, and their own wishes, they had nothing to talk about and they both felt it.
‘You know, he’s not acquainted with Anna?’ Stepan Arkadyich said to Vronsky. ‘And I absolutely want to take him to her. Let’s go, Levin!’
‘Really?’ said Vronsky. ‘She’ll be very glad. I’d go home now,’ he added, ‘but I’m worried about Yashvin and want to stay till he’s finished.’
‘What, is it bad?’
‘He keeps losing and I’m the only one who can hold him back.’
‘How about a little game of pyramids? Levin, will you play? Well, splendid!’ said Stepan Arkadyich. ‘Set it up for pyramids.’ He turned to the marker.
‘It’s been ready for a long time,’ replied the marker, who had set the balls into a triangle long ago and was knocking the red one around to amuse himself.
‘Let’s begin.’
After the game, Vronsky and Levin joined Gagin’s table and Levin, at Stepan Arkadyich’s suggestion, began betting on aces. Vronsky first sat by the table, surrounded by acquaintances who were constantly coming up to him, then went to the inferno to visit Yashvin. Levin experienced a pleasant rest from the mental fatigue of the morning. He was glad of the cessation of hostilities with Vronsky, and the feeling of peacefulness, propriety and contentment never left him.
When the game was over, Stepan Arkadyich took Levin under the arm.
‘Well, shall we go to Anna? Now? Eh? She’s at home. I’ve long been promising to bring you. Where were you going to spend the evening?’
‘Nowhere in particular. I promised Sviyazhsky I’d go to the Agricultural Society. But all right, let’s go,’ said Levin.
‘Excellent! Off we go! Find out if my carriage has arrived,’ Stepan Arkadyich turned to a footman.
Levin went to the table, paid the forty roubles he had lost betting on aces, paid his club expenses, known in some mysterious way to the little old footman who stood by the door, and, with a special swing of the arms, walked through all the rooms to the exit.
IX
‘The Oblonsky carriage!’ shouted the porter in a gruff bass. The carriage pulled up and they got in. Only at the beginning, while the carriage was driving through the gates of the club, did Levin continue to feel the impression of the club’s peace, contentment, and the unquestionable propriety of the surroundings; but as soon as the carriage drove out to the street and he felt it jolting over the uneven road, heard the angry shout of a driver going the other way, saw in the dim light the red signs over a pot-house and a shop, that impression was destroyed, and he began to reflect on his actions, asking himself if he was doing the right thing by going to Anna. What would Kitty say? But Stepan Arkadyich did not let him ponder and, as if guessing his doubts, dispersed them.
‘I’m so glad,’ he said, ‘that you’ll get to know her. You know, Dolly has long been wanting it. And Lvov has called on her and keeps dropping in. Though she’s my sister,’ Stepan Arkadyich went on, ‘I can boldly say that she’s a remarkable woman. You’ll see. Her situation is very trying, especially now.’
‘Why especially now?’
‘We’re discussing a divorce with her husband. And he consents. But there’s a difficulty here about her son, and the matter,