Anna Karenina (Penguin) - Leo Tolstoy [44]
The maid took the bag and the lapdog, the butler and a porter the other bags. Vronsky gave his mother his arm; but as they were getting out of the carriage, several men with frightened faces suddenly ran past. The stationmaster, in a peaked cap of an extraordinary colour, also ran past.
Evidently something extraordinary had happened. People who had left the train were running back.
‘What? ... What? ... Where? ... Threw himself! ... run over! ...’ could be heard among those passing by.
Stepan Arkadyich, with his sister on his arm, their faces also frightened, came back and stood by the door of the carriage, out of the crowd’s way.
The ladies got into the carriage, while Vronsky and Stepan Arkadyich went after the people to find out the details of the accident.
A watchman, either drunk or too bundled up because of the freezing cold, had not heard a train being shunted and had been run over.
Even before Vronsky and Oblonsky came back, the ladies had learned these details from the butler.
Oblonsky and Vronsky had both seen the mangled corpse. Oblonsky was obviously suffering. He winced and seemed ready to cry.
‘Ah, how terrible! Ah, Anna, if you’d seen it! Ah, how terrible!’ he kept saying.
Vronsky was silent, and his handsome face was serious but perfectly calm.
‘Ah, if you’d seen it, Countess,’ said Stepan Arkadyich. ‘And his wife is here ... It was terrible to see her ... She threw herself on the body. They say he was the sole provider for a huge family.32 It’s terrible!’
‘Can nothing be done for her?’ Mme Karenina said in an agitated whisper.
Vronsky glanced at her and at once left the carriage.
‘I’ll be right back, maman,’ he added, turning at the door.
When he came back a few minutes later, Stepan Arkadyich was already talking with the countess about a new soprano, while the countess kept glancing impatiently at the door, waiting for her son.
‘Let’s go now,’ said Vronsky, entering.
They went out together. Vronsky walked ahead with his mother. Behind came Mme Karenina with her brother. At the exit, the stationmaster overtook Vronsky and came up to him.
‘You gave my assistant two hundred roubles. Would you be so kind as to designate whom they are meant for?’
‘For the widow,’ Vronsky said, shrugging his shoulders. ‘I don’t see any need to ask.’
‘You gave it?’ Oblonsky cried behind him and, pressing his sister’s hand, added: ‘Very nice, very nice! Isn’t he a fine fellow? My respects, Countess.’
And he and his sister stopped, looking around for her maid.
When they came out, the Vronskys’ carriage had already driven off. The people coming out were still talking about what had happened.
‘What a terrible death!’ said some gentleman passing by. ‘Cut in two pieces, they say.’
‘On the contrary, I think it’s the easiest, it’s instantaneous,’ observed another.
‘How is it they don’t take measures?’ said a third.
Mme Karenina got into the carriage, and Stepan Arkadyich saw with surprise that her lips were trembling and she could hardly keep back her tears.
‘What is it, Anna?’ he asked, when they had driven several hundred yards.
‘A bad omen,’ she said.
‘What nonsense!’ said Stepan Arkadyich. ‘You’ve come, that’s the main thing. You can’t imagine what hopes I have in you.’
‘Have you known Vronsky for long?’ she asked.
‘Yes. You know, we hope he’s going to marry Kitty.’
‘Oh?’ Anna said softly. ‘Well, now let’s talk about you,’ she added, tossing her head as if she wanted physically to drive away something superfluous that was bothering her. ‘Let’s talk about your affairs. I got your letter and here I am.’
‘Yes, you’re my only hope,’ said Stepan Arkadyich.
‘Well, tell me everything.’
And Stepan Arkadyich started telling.
Driving up to the house, Oblonsky helped his sister out, sighed, pressed her hand, and went to his office.
XIX
When Anna came in, Dolly was sitting in the small drawing room with a plump, tow-headed boy who already resembled his father, listening as he recited a French lesson. The boy was reading, his hand twisting and trying to tear off the barely attached button