Part One: Chapter 17

by Leo Tolstoy

　　Next day at eleven o'clock in the morning Vronsky drove to thestation of the Petersburg railway to meet his mother, and thefirst person he came across on the great flight of steps wasOblonsky, who was expecting his sister by the same train.

　　"Ah! your excellency!" cried Oblonsky, "whom are you meeting?"

　　"My mother," Vronsky responded, smiling, as everyone did who metOblonsky. He shook hands with him, and together they ascendedthe steps. "She is to be here from Petersburg today."

　　"I was looking out for you till two o'clock last night. Wheredid you go after the Shtcherbatskys'?"

　　"Home," answered Vronsky. "I must own I felt so well contentyesterday after the Shtcherbatskys' that I didn't care to goanywhere."

　　"I know a gallant steed by tokens sure, And by his eyes I know a youth in love,"declaimed Stepan Arkadyevitch, just as he had done before toLevin.

　　Vronsky smiled with a look that seemed to say that he did notdeny it, but he promptly changed the subject.

　　"And whom are you meeting?" he asked.

　　"I? I've come to meet a pretty woman," said Oblonsky.

　　"You don't say so!"

　　"Honi soit qui mal y pense! My sister Anna."

　　"Ah! that's Madame Karenina," said Vronsky.

　　"You know her, no doubt?"

　　"I think I do. Or perhaps not...I really am not sure," Vronskyanswered heedlessly, with a vague recollection of something stiffand tedious evoked by the name Karenina.

　　"But Alexey Alexandrovitch, my celebrated brother-in-law, yousurely must know. All the world knows him."

　　"I know him by reputation and by sight. I know that he's clever,learned, religious somewhat.... But you know that's not...notin my line," said Vronsky in English.

　　"Yes, he's a very remarkable man; rather a conservative, but asplendid man," observed Stepan Arkadyevitch, "a splendid man."

　　"Oh, well, so much the better for him," said Vronsky smiling."Oh, you've come," he said, addressing a tall old footman of hismother's, standing at the door; "come here."

　　Besides the charm Oblonsky had in general for everyone, Vronskyhad felt of late specially drawn to him by the fact that in hisimagination he was associated with Kitty.

　　"Well, what do you say? Shall we give a supper on Sunday for thediva?" he said to him with a smile, taking his arm.

　　"Of course. I'm collecting subscriptions. Oh, did yo make theacquaintance of my friend Levin?" asked Stepan Arkadyevitch.

　　"Yes; but he left rather early."

　　"He's a capital fellow," pursued Oblonsky. "Isn't he?"

　　"I don't know why it is," responded Vronsky, "in all Moscowpeople--present company of course excepted," he put injestingly, "there's something uncompromising. They are all onthe defensive, lose their tempers, as though they all want tomake one feel something..."

　　"Yes, that's true, it is so," said Stepan Arkadyevitch, laughinggood-humoredly.

　　"Will the train soon be in?" Vronsky asked a railway official.

　　"The train's signaled," answered the man.

　　The approach of the train was more and more evident by thepreparatory bustle in the station, the rush of porters, themovement of policemen and attendants, and people meeting thetrain. Through the frosty vapor could be seen workmen in shortsheepskins and soft felt boots crossing the rails of the curvingline. The hiss of the boiler could be heard on the distantrails, and the rumble of something heavy.

　　"No," said Stepan Arkadyevitch, who felt a great inclination totell Vronsky of Levin's intentions in regard to Kitty. "No,you've not got a true impression of Levin. He's a very nervousman, and is sometimes out of humor, it's true, but then he isoften very nice. He's such a true, honest nature, and a heart ofgold. But yesterday there were special reasons," pursued StepanArkadyevitch, with a meaning smile, totally oblivious of thegenuine sympathy he had felt the day before for his friend, andfeeling the same sympathy now, only for Vronsky. "Yes, therewere reasons why he could not help being either particularlyhappy or particularly unhappy."

　　Vronsky stood still and asked directly: "How so? Do you mean hemade your belle-soeur an offer yesterday?"

　　"Maybe," said Stepan Arkadyevitch. "I fancied something of thesort yesterday. Yes, if he went away early, and was out of humortoo, it must mean it.... He's been so long in love, and I'm verysorry for him."

　　"So that's it! I should imagine, though, she might reckon on abetter match," said Vronsky, drawing himself up and walking aboutagain, "though I don't know him, of course," he added. "Yes,that is a hateful position! That's why most fellows prefer tohave to do with Klaras. If you don't succeed with them it onlyproves that you've not enough cash, but in this case one'sdignity's at stake. But here's the train."

　　The engine had already whistled in the distance. A few instantslater the platform was quivering, and with puffs of steam hanginglow in the air from the frost, the engine rolled up, with thelever of the middle wheel rhythmically moving up and down, andthe stooping figure of the engine-driver covered with frost.Behind the tender, setting the platform more and more slowlyswaying, came the luggage van with a dog whining in it. At lastthe passenger carriages rolled in, oscillating before coming to astandstill.

　　A smart guard jumped out, giving a whistle, and after him one byone the impatient passengers began to get down: an officer ofthe guards, holding himself erect, and looking severely abouthim; a nimble little merchant with a satchel, smiling gaily; apeasant with a sack over his shoulder.

　　Vronsky, standing beside Oblonsky, watched the carriages and thepassengers, totally oblivious of his mother. What he had justheard about Kitty excited and delighted him. Unconsciously hearched his chest, and his eyes flashed. He felt himself aconqueror.

　　"Countess Vronskaya is in that compartment," said the smartguard, going up to Vronsky.

　　The guard's words roused him, and forced him to think of hismother and his approaching meeting with her. He did not in hisheart respect his mother, and without acknowledging it tohimself, he did not love her, though in accordance with theideas of the set in which he lived, and with his own education,he could not have conceived of any behavior to his mother not inthe highest degree respectful and obedient, and the moreexternally obedient and respectful his behavior, the less in hisheart he respected and loved her.