Part Two: Chapter 26

by Leo Tolstoy

　　The external relations of Alexey Alexandrovitch and his wife hadremained unchanged. The sole difference lay in the fact that hewas more busily occupied than ever. As in former years, at thebeginning of the spring he had gone to a foreign watering-placefor the sake of his health, deranged by the winter's work thatevery year grew heavier. And just as always he returned in Julyand at once fell to work as usual with increased energy. Asusual, too, his wife had moved for the summer to a villa out oftown, while he remained in Petersburg. From the date of theirconversation after the party at Princess Tverskaya's he had neverspoken again to Anna of his suspicions and his jealousies, andthat habitual tone of his bantering mimicry was the mostconvenient tone possible for his present attitude to his wife.He was a little colder to his wife. He simply seemed to beslightly displeased with her for that first midnightconversation, which she had repelled. In his attitude to herthere was a shade of vexation, but nothing more. "You would notbe open with me," he seemed to say, mentally addressing her; "somuch the worse for you. Now you may beg as you please, but Iwon't be open with you. So much the worse for you!" he saidmentally, like a man who, after vainly attempting to extinguish afire, should fly in a rage with his vain efforts and say, "Oh,very well then! you shall burn for this!" This man, so subtleand astute in official life, did not realize all thesenselessness of such an attitude to his wife. He did notrealize it, because it was too terrible to him to realize hisactual position, and he shut down and locked and sealed up in hisheart that secret place where lay hid his feelings towards hisfamily, that is, his wife and son. He who had been such acareful father, had from the end of that winter become peculiarlyfrigid to his son, and adopted to him just the same banteringtone he used with his wife. "Aha, young man!" was the greetingwith which he met him.

　　Alexey Alexandrovitch asserted and believed that he had never inany previous year had so much official business as that year.But he was not aware that he sought work for himself that year,that this was one of the means for keeping shut that secret placewhere lay hid his feelings towards his wife and son and histhoughts about them, which became more terrible the longer theylay there. If anyone had had the right to ask AlexeyAlexandrovitch what he thought of his wife's behavior, the mildand peaceable Alexey Alexandrovitch would have made no answer,but he would have been greatly angered with any man who shouldquestion him on that subject. For this reason there positivelycame into Alexey Alexandrovitch's face a look of haughtiness andseverity whenever anyone inquired after his wife's health.Alexey Alexandrovitch did not want to think at all about hiswife's behavior, and he actually succeeded in not thinking aboutit at all.

　　Alexey Alexandrovitch's permanent summer villa was in Peterhof,and the Countess Lidia Ivanovna used as a rule to spend thesummer there, close to Anna, and constantly seeing her. Thatyear Countess Lidia Ivanovna declined to settle in Peterhof, wasnot once at Anna Arkadyevna's, and in conversation with AlexeyAlexandrovitch hinted at the unsuitability of Anna's closeintimacy with Betsy and Vronsky. Alexey Alexandrovitch sternlycut her short, roundly declaring his wife to be above suspicion,and from that time began to avoid Countess Lidia Ivanovna. Hedid not want to see, and did not see, that many people in societycast dubious glances on his wife, he did not want to understand,and did not understand, why his wife had so particularly insistedon staying at Tsarskoe, where Betsy was staying, and not far fromthe camp of Vronsky's regiment. He did not allow himself tothink about it, and he did not think about it; but all the samethough he never admitted it to himself, and had no proofs, noteven suspicious evidence, in the bottom of his heart he knewbeyond all doubt that he was a deceived husband, and he wasprofoundly miserable about it.

　　How often during those eight years of happy life with his wifeAlexey Alexandrovitch had looked at other men's faithless wivesand other deceived husbands and asked himself: "How can peopledescend to that? how is it they don't put an end to such ahideous position?" But now, when the misfortune had come uponhimself, he was so far from thinking of putting an end to theposition that he would not recognize it at all, would notrecognize it just because it was too awful, too unnatural.

　　Since his return from abroad Alexey Alexandrovitch had twice beenat their country villa. Once he dined there, another time hespent the evening there with a party of friends, but he had notonce stayed the night there, as it had been his habit to do inprevious years.

　　The day of the races had been a very busy day for AlexeyAlexandrovitch; but when mentally sketching out the day in themorning, he made up his mind to go to their country house to seehis wife immediately after dinner, and from there to the races,which all the Court were to witness, and at which he was bound tobe present. He was going to see his wife, because he haddetermined to see her once a week to keep up appearances. Andbesides, on that day, as it was the fifteenth, he had to give hiswife some money for her expenses, according to their usualarrangement.

　　With his habitual control over his thoughts, though he thoughtall this about his wife, he did not let his thoughts strayfurther in regard to her.

　　That morning was a very full one for Alexey Alexandrovitch. Theevening before, Countess Lidia Ivanovna had sent him a pamphletby a celebrated traveler in China, who was staying in Petersburg,and with it she enclosed a note begging him to see the travelerhimself, as he was an extremely interesting person from variouspoints of view, and likely to be useful. Alexey Alexandrovitchhad not had time to read the pamphlet through in the evening, andfinished it in the morning. Then people began arriving withpetitions, and there came the reports, interviews, appointments,dismissals, apportionment of rewards, pensions, grants, notes,the workaday round, as Alexey Alexandrovitch called it, thatalways took up so much time. Then there was private business ofhis own, a visit from the doctor and the steward who managed hisproperty. The steward did not take up much time. He simply gaveAlexey Alexandrovitch the money he needed together with a briefstatement of the position of his affairs, which was notaltogether satisfactory, as it had happened that during thatyear, owing to increased expenses, more had been paid out thanusual, and there was a deficit. But the doctor, a celebratedPetersburg doctor, who was an intimate acquaintance of AlexeyAlexandrovitch, took up a great deal of time. AlexeyAlexandrovitch had not expected him that day, and was surprisedat his visit, and still more so when the doctor questioned himvery carefully about his health, listened to his breathing, andtapped at his liver. Alexey Alexandrovitch did not know that hisfriend Lidia Ivanovna, noticing that he was not as well as usualthat year, had begged the doctor to go and examine him. "Do thisfor my sake," the Countess Lidia Ivanovna had said to him.

　　"I will do it for the sake of Russia, countess," replied thedoctor.

　　"A priceless man!" said the Countess Lidia Ivanovna.

　　The doctor was extremely dissatisfied with Alexey Alexandrovitch.He found the liver considerably enlarged, and the digestivepowers weakened, while the course of mineral waters had beenquite without effect. He prescribed more physical exercise asfar as possible, and as far as possible less mental strain, andabove all no worry--in other words, just what was as much out ofAlexey Alexandrovitch's power as abstaining from breathing. Thenhe withdrew, leaving in Alexey Alexandrovitch an unpleasant sensethat something was wrong with him, and that there was no chanceof curing it.

　　As he was coming away, the doctor chanced to meet on thestaircase an acquaintance of his, Sludin, who was secretary ofAlexey Alexandrovitch's department. They had been comrades atthe university, and though they rarely met, they thought highlyof each other and were excellent friends, and so there was no oneto whom the doctor would have given his opinion of a patient sofreely as to Sludin.

　　"How glad I am you've been seeing him!" said Sludin. "He's notwell, and I fancy.... Well, what do you think of him?"

　　"I'll tell you," said the doctor, beckoning over Sludin's head tohis coachman to bring the carriage round. "It's just this," saidthe doctor, taking a finger of his kid glove in his white handsand pulling it, "if you don't strain the strings, and then try tobreak them, you'll find it a difficult job; but strain a stringto its very utmost, and the mere weight of one finger on thestrained string will snap it. And with his close assiduity, hisconscientious devotion to his work, he's strained to the utmost;and there's some outside burden weighing on him, and not a lightone," concluded the doctor, raising his eyebrows significantly."Will you be at the races?" he added, as he sank into his seat inthe carriage.

　　"Yes, yes, to be sure; it does waste a lot of time," the doctorresponded vaguely to some reply of Sludin's he had not caught.

　　Directly after the doctor, who had taken up so much time, camethe celebrated traveler, and Alexey Alexandrovitch, by means ofthe pamphlet he had only just finished reading and his previousacquaintance with the subject, impressed the traveler by thedepth of his knowledge of the subject and the breadth andenlightenment of his view of it.

　　At the same time as the traveler there was announced a provincialmarshal of nobility on a visit to Petersburg, with whom AlexeyAlexandrovitch had to have some conversation. After hisdeparture, he had to finish the daily routine of business withhis secretary, and then he still had to drive round to call on acertain great personage on a matter of grave and serious import.Alexey Alexandrovitch only just managed to be back by fiveo'clock, his dinner-hour, and after dining with his secretary, heinvited him to drive with him to his country villa and to theraces.

　　Though he did not acknowledge it to himself, AlexeyAlexandrovitch always tried nowadays to secure the presence of athird person in his interviews with his wife.