Part Six: Chapter 19

by Leo Tolstoy

　　Left alone, Darya Alexandrovna, with a good housewife's eye,scanned her room. All she had seen in entering the house andwalking through it, and all she saw now in her room, gave her animpression of wealth and sumptuousness and of that modernEuropean luxury of which she had only read in English novels, buthad never seen in Russia and in the country. Everything was newfrom the new French hangings on the walls to the carpet whichcovered the whole floor. The bed had a spring mattress, and aspecial sort of bolster and silk pillowcases on the littlepillows. The marble washstand, the dressing table, the littlesofa, the tables, the bronze clock on the chimney piece, thewindow curtains, and the portieres were all new and expensive.

　　The smart maid, who came in to offer her services, with her hairdone up high, and a gown more fashionable than Dolly's, was asnew and expensive as the whole room. Darya Alexandrovna likedher neatness, her deferential and obliging manners, but she feltill at ease with her. She felt ashamed of her seeing the patcheddressing jacket that had unluckily been packed by mistake forher. She was ashamed of the very patches and darned places ofwhich she had been so proud at home. At home it had been soclear that for six dressing jackets there would be neededtwenty-four yards of nainsook at sixteen pence the yard, whichwas a matter of thirty shillings besides the cutting-out andmaking, and these thirty shillings had been saved. But beforethe maid she felt, if not exactly ashamed, at leastuncomfortable.

　　Darya Alexandrovna had a great sense of relief when Annushka,whom she had known for years, walked in. The smart maid was sentfor to go to her mistress, and Annushka remained with DaryaAlexandrovna.

　　Annushka was obviously much pleased at that lady's arrival, andbegan to chatter away without a pause. Dolly observed that shewas longing to express her opinion in regard to her mistress'sposition, especially as to the love and devotion of the count toAnna Arkadyevna, but Dolly carefully interrupted her whenever shebegan to speak about this.

　　"I grew up with Anna Arkadyevna; my lady's dearer to me thananything. Well, it's not for us to judge. And, to be sure,there seems so much love..."

　　"Kindly pour out the water for me to wash now, please," DaryaAlexandrovna cut her short.

　　"Certainly. We've two women kept specially for washing smallthings, but most of the linen's done by machinery. The countgoes into everything himself. Ah, what a husband!..."

　　Dolly was glad when Anna came in, and by her entrance put a stopto Annushka's gossip.

　　Anna had put on a very simple batiste gown. Dolly scrutinizedthat simple gown attentively. She knew what it meant, and theprice at which such simplicity was obtained.

　　"An old friend," said Anna of Annushka.

　　Anna was not embarrassed now. She was perfectly composed and atease. Dolly saw that she had now completely recovered from theimpression her arrival had made on her, and had assumed thatsuperficial, careless tone which, as it were, closed the door onthat compartment in which her deeper feelings and ideas werekept.

　　"Well, Anna, and how is your little girl?" asked Dolly.

　　"Annie?" (This was what she called her little daughter Anna.)"Very well. She has got on wonderfully. Would you like to seeher? Come, I'll show her to you. We had a terrible bother," shebegan telling her, "over nurses. We had an Italian wet-nurse. Agood creature, but so stupid! We wanted to get rid of her, butthe baby is so used to her that we've gone on keeping her still."

　　"But how have you managed?..." Dolly was beginning a questionas to what name the little girl would have; but noticing a suddenfrown on Anna's face, she changed the drift of her question.

　　"How did you manage? have you weaned her yet?"

　　But Anna had understood.

　　"You didn't mean to ask that? You meant to ask about hersurname. Yes? That worries Alexey. She has no name--that is,she's a Karenina," said Anna, dropping her eyelids till nothingcould be seen but the eyelashes meeting. "But we'll talk aboutall that later," her face suddenly brightening. "Come, I'll showyou her. Elle est tres gentille. She crawls now."

　　In the nursery the luxury which had impressed Dolly in the wholehouse struck her still more. There were little go-carts orderedfrom England, and appliances for learning to walk, and a sofaafter the fashion of a billiard table, purposely constructed forcrawling, and swings and baths, all of special pattern, andmodern. They were all English, solid, and of good make, andobviously very expensive. The room was large, and very light andlofty.

　　When they went in, the baby, with nothing on but her little smockwas sitting in a little elbow chair at the table, having herdinner of broth which she was spilling all over her little chest.The baby was being fed, and the Russian nursery maid wasevidently sharing her meal. Neither the wet-nurse nor thehead nurse were there; they were in the next room, from whichcame the sound of their conversation in the queer French whichwas their only means of communication.

　　Hearing Anna's voice, a smart, tall, English nurse with adisagreeable face and a dissolute expression walked in at thedoor, hurriedly shaking her fair curls, and immediately began todefend herself though Anna had not found fault with her. Atevery word Anna said, the English nurse said hurriedly severaltimes, "Yes, my lady."

　　The rosy baby with her black eyebrows and hair, her sturdy redlittle body with tight goose-flesh skin, delighted DaryaAlexandrovna in spite of the cross expression with which shestared at the stranger. She positively envied the baby's healthyappearance. She was delighted, too, at the baby's crawling. Notone of her own children had crawled like that. When the baby wasput on the carpet and its little dress tucked up behind, it waswonderfully charming. Looking round like some little wild animalat the grown-up big people with her bright black eyes, shesmiled, unmistakably pleased at their admiring her, and holdingher legs sideways, she pressed vigorously on her arms, andrapidly drew her whole back up after, and then made another stepforward with her little arms.

　　But the whole atmosphere of the nursery, and especially theEnglish nurse, Darya Alexandrovna did not like at all. It wasonly on the supposition that no good nurse would have entered soirregular a household as Anna's that Darya Alexandrovna couldexplain to herself how Anna with her insight into people couldtake such an unprepossessing, disreputable-looking woman as nurseto her child.

　　Besides, from a few words that were dropped, Darya Alexandrovnasaw at once that Anna, the two nurses, and the child had nocommon existence, and that the mother's visit was somethingexceptional. Anna wanted to get the baby her plaything, andcould not find it.

　　Most amazing of all was the fact that on being asked how manyteeth the baby had, Anna answered wrong, and knew nothing aboutthe two last teeth.

　　"I sometimes feel sorry I'm so superfluous here," said Anna,going out of the nursery and holding up her skirt so as to escapethe plaything standing in the doorway. "It was very differentwith my first child."

　　"I expected it to be the other way," said Darya Alexandrovnashyly.

　　"Oh, no! By the way, do you know I saw Seryozha?" said Anna;screwing up her eyes, as though looking at something far away."But we'll talk about that later. You wouldn't believe it, I'mlike a hungry beggar woman when a full dinner is set before her,and she does not know what to begin on first. The dinner is you,and the talks I have before me with you, which I could never havewith anyone else; and I don't know which subject to begin uponfirst. Mais je ne vous ferai grace de rien. I must haveeverything out with you."

　　"Oh, I ought to give you a sketch of the company you will meetwith us," she went on. "I'll begin with the ladies. PrincessVarvara--you know her, and I know your opinion and Stiva's abouther. Stiva says the whole aim of her existence is to prove hersuperiority over Auntie Katerina Pavlovna: that's all true; butshe's a good-natured woman, and I am so grateful to her. InPetersburg there was a moment when a chaperon was absolutelyessential for me. Then she turned up. But really she is good-natured. She did a great deal to alleviate my position. I seeyou don't understand all the difficulty of my position...there inPetersburg," she added. "Here I'm perfectly at ease and happy.Well, of that later on, though. Then Sviazhsky--he's the marshalof the district, and he's a very good sort of a man, but he wantsto get something out of Alexey. You understand, with hisproperty, now that we are settled in the country, Alexey canexercise great influence. Then there's Tushkevitch--you haveseen him, you know--Betsy's admirer. Now he's been thrown overand he's come to see us. As Alexey says, he's one of thosepeople who are very pleasant if one accepts them for what theytry to appear to be, et puis il est comme il faut, as PrincessVarvara says. Then Veslovsky...you know him. A very nice boy,"she said, and a sly smile curved her lips. "What's this wildstory about him and the Levins? Veslovsky told Alexey about it,and we don't believe it. Il est tres gentil et naif," she saidagain with the same smile. "Men need occupation, and Alexeyneeds a circle, so I value all these people. We have to have thehouse lively and gay, so that Alexey may not long for anynovelty. Then you'll see the steward--a German, a very goodfellow, and he understands his work. Alexey has a very highopinion of him. Then the doctor, a young man, not quite aNihilist perhaps, but you know, eats with his knife...but a verygood doctor. Then the architect.... Une petite cour!"