Part Seven: Chapter 7

by Leo Tolstoy

　　Levin reached the club just at the right time. Members andvisitors were driving up as he arrived. Levin had not been atthe club for a very long while--not since he lived in Moscow,when he was leaving the university and going into society. Heremembered the club, the external details of its arrangement, buthe had completely forgotten the impression it had made on him inold days. But as soon as, driving into the wide semicircularcourt and getting out of the sledge, he mounted the steps, andthe hall porter, adorned with a crossway scarf, noiselesslyopened the door to him with a bow; as soon as he saw in theporter's room the cloaks and galoshes of members who thought itless trouble to take them off downstairs; as soon as he heard themysterious ringing bell that preceded him as he ascended theeasy, carpeted staircase, and saw the statue on the landing, andthe third porter at the top doors, a familiar figure grown older,in the club livery, opening the door without haste or delay, andscanning the visitors as they passed in--Levin felt the oldimpression of the club come back in a rush, an impression ofrepose, comfort, and propriety.

　　"Your hat, please," the porter said to Levin, who forgot the clubrule to leave his hat in the porter's room. "Long time sinceyou've been. The prince put your name down yesterday. PrinceStepan Arkadyevitch is not here yet."

　　The porter did not only know Levin, but also all his ties andrelationships, and so immediately mentioned his intimate friends.

　　Passing through the outer hall, divided up by screens, and theroom partitioned on the right, where a man sits at the fruitbuffet, Levin overtook an old man walking slowly in, and enteredthe dining room full of noise and people.

　　He walked along the tables, almost all full, and looked at thevisitors. He saw people of all sorts, old and young; some heknew a little, some intimate friends. There was not a singlecross or worried-looking face. All seemed to have left theircares and anxieties in the porter's room with their hats, andwere all deliberately getting ready to enjoy the materialblessings of life. Sviazhsky was here and Shtcherbatsky,Nevyedovsky and the old prince, and Vronsky and SergeyIvanovitch.

　　"Ah! why are you late?" the prince said smiling, and giving himhis hand over his own shoulder. "How's Kitty?" he added,smoothing out the napkin he had tucked in at his waistcoatbuttons.

　　"All right; they are dining at home, all the three of them."

　　"Ah, 'Aline-Nadine,' to be sure! There's no room with us. Go tothat table, and make haste and take a seat," said the prince, andturning away he carefully took a plate of eel soup.

　　"Levin, this way!" a good-natured voice shouted a little fartheron. It was Turovtsin. He was sitting with a young officer, andbeside them were two chairs turned upside down. Levin gladlywent up to them. He had always liked the good-hearted rake,Turovtsin--he was associated in his mind with memories of hiscourtship--and at that moment, after the strain of intellectualconversation, the sight of Turovtsin's good-natured face wasparticularly welcome.

　　"For you and Oblonsky. He'll be here directly."

　　The young man, holding himself very erect, with eyes forevertwinkling with enjoyment, was an officer from Petersburg, Gagin.Turovtsin introduced them.

　　"Oblonsky's always late."

　　"Ah, here he is!"

　　"Have you only just come?" said Oblonsky, coming quickly towardsthem. "Good day. Had some vodka? Well, come along then."

　　Levin got up and went with him to the big table spread withspirits and appetizers of the most various kinds. One would havethought that out of two dozen delicacies one might find somethingto one's taste, but Stepan Arkadyevitch asked for somethingspecial, and one of the liveried waiters standing by immediatelybrought what was required. They drank a wine glassful andreturned to their table.

　　At once, while they were still at the soup, Gagin was served withchampagne, and told the waiter to fill four glasses. Levin didnot refuse the wine, and asked for a second bottle. He was veryhungry, and ate and drank with great enjoyment, and with stillgreater enjoyment took part in the lively and simple conversationof his companions. Gagin, dropping his voice, told the last goodstory from Petersburg, and the story, though improper and stupid,was so ludicrous that Levin broke into roars of laughter so loudthat those near looked round.

　　"That's in the same style as, 'that's a thing I can't endure!'You know the story?" said Stepan Arkadyevitch. "Ah, that'sexquisite! Another bottle," he said to the waiter, and he beganto relate his good story.

　　"Pyotr Illyitch Vinovsky invites you to drink with him," a littleold waiter interrupted Stepan Arkadyevitch, bringing two delicateglasses of sparkling champagne, and addressing StepanArkadyevitch and Levin. Stepan Arkadyevitch took the glass, andlooking towards a bald man with red mustaches at the other end ofthe table, he nodded to him, smiling.

　　"Who's that?" asked Levin.

　　"You met him once at my place, don't you remember? Agood-natured fellow."

　　Levin did the same as Stepan Arkadyevitch and took the glass.

　　Stepan Arkadyevitch's anecdote too was very amusing. Levin toldhis story, and that too was successful. Then they talked ofhorses, of the races, of what they had been doing that day, andof how smartly Vronsky's Atlas had won the first prize. Levindid not notice how the time passed at dinner.

　　"Ah! and here they are!" Stepan Arkadyevitch said towards the endof dinner, leaning over the back of his chair and holding out hishand to Vronsky, who came up with a tall officer of the Guards.Vronsky's face too beamed with the look of good-humored enjoymentthat was general in the club. He propped his elbow playfully onStepan Arkadyevitch's shoulder, whispering something to him, andhe held out his hand to Levin with the same good-humored smile.

　　"Very glad to meet you," he said. "I looked out for you at theelection, but I was told you had gone away."

　　"Yes, I left the same day. We've just been talking of yourhorse. I congratulate you," said Levin. "It was very rapidlyrun."

　　"Yes; you've race horses too, haven't you?"

　　"No, my father had; but I remember and know something about it."

　　"Where have you dined?" asked Stepan Arkadyevitch.

　　"We were at the second table, behind the columns."

　　"We've been celebrating his success," said the tall colonel."It's his second Imperial prize. I wish I might have the luck atcards he has with horses. Well, why waste the precious time?I'm going to the 'infernal regions,'" added the colonel, and hewalked away.

　　"That's Yashvin," Vronsky said in answer to Turovtsin, and he satdown in the vacated seat beside them. He drank the glass offeredhim, and ordered a bottle of wine. Under the influence of theclub atmosphere or the wine he had drunk, Levin chatted away toVronsky of the best breeds of cattle, and was very glad not tofeel the slightest hostility to this man. He even told him,among other things, that he had heard from his wife that she hadmet him at Princess Marya Borissovna's.

　　"Ah, Princess Marya Borissovna, she's exquisite!" said StepanArkadyevitch, and he told an anecdote about her which set themall laughing. Vronsky particularly laughed with suchsimplehearted amusement that Levin felt quite reconciled to him.

　　"Well, have we finished?" said Stepan Arkadyevitch, getting upwith a smile. "Let us go."