Part Two: Chapter 27

by Leo Tolstoy

　　Anna was upstairs, standing before the looking glass, and, withAnnushka's assistance, pinning the last ribbon on her gown whenshe heard carriage wheels crunching the gravel at the entrance.

　　"It's too early for Betsy," she thought, and glancing out of thewindow she caught sight of the carriage and the black hat ofAlexey Alexandrovitch, and the ears that she knew so wellsticking up each side of it. "How unlucky! Can he be going tostay the night?" she wondered, and the thought of all that mightcome of such a chance struck her as so awful and terrible that,without dwelling on it for a moment, she went down to meet himwith a bright and radiant face; and conscious of the presence ofthat spirit of falsehood and deceit in herself that she had cometo know of late, she abandoned herself to that spirit and begantalking, hardly knowing what she was saying.

　　"Ah, how nice of you!" she said, giving her husband her hand, andgreeting Sludin, who was like one of the family, with a smile."You're staying the night, I hope?" was the first word the spiritof falsehood prompted her to utter; "and now we'll go together.Only it's a pity I've promised Betsy. She's coming for me."

　　Alexey Alexandrovitch knit his brows at Betsy's name.

　　"Oh, I'm not going to separate the inseparables," he said in hisusual bantering tone. "I'm going with Mihail Vassilievitch. I'mordered exercise by the doctors too. I'll walk, and fancy myselfat the springs again."

　　"There's no hurry," said Anna. "Would you like tea?"

　　She rang.

　　"Bring in tea, and tell Seryozha that Alexey Alexandrovitch ishere. Well, tell me, how have you been? Mihail Vassilievitch,you've not been to see me before. Look how lovely it is out onthe terrace," she said, turning first to one and then to theother.

　　She spoke very simply and naturally, but too much and too fast.She was the more aware of this from noticing in the inquisitivelook Mihail Vassilievitch turned on her that he was, as it were,keeping watch on her.

　　Mihail Vassilievitch promptly went out on the terrace.

　　She sat down beside her husband.

　　"You don't look quite well," she said.

　　"Yes," he said; "the doctor's been with me today and wasted anhour of my time. I feel that some one of our friends must havesent him: my health's so precious, it seems."

　　"No; what did he say?"

　　she questioned him about his health and what he had been doing,and tried to persuade him to take a rest and come out to her.

　　All this she said brightly, rapidly, and with a peculiarbrilliance in her eyes. But Alexey Alexandrovitch did not nowattach any special significance to this tone of hers. He heardonly her words and gave them only the direct sense they bore.And he answered simply, though jestingly. There was nothingremarkable in all this conversation, but never after could Annarecall this brief scene without an agonizing pang of shame.

　　Seryozha came in preceded by his governess. If AlexeyAlexandrovitch had allowed himself to observe he would havenoticed the timid and bewildered eyes with which Seryozha glancedfirst at his father and then at his mother. But he would not seeanything, and he did not see it.

　　"Ah, the young man! He's grown. Really, he's getting quite aman. How are you, young man?"

　　And he gave his hand to the scared child. Seryozha had been shyof his father before, and now, ever since Alexey Alexandrovitchhad taken to calling him young man, and since that insolublequestion had occurred to him whether Vronsky were a friend or afoe, he avoided his father. He looked round towards his motheras though seeking shelter. It was only with his mother that hewas at ease. Meanwhile, Alexey Alexandrovitch was holding hisson by the shoulder while he was speaking to the governess, andSeryozha was so miserably uncomfortable that Anna saw he was onthe point of tears.

　　Anna, who had flushed a little the instant her son came in,noticing that Seryozha was uncomfortable, got up hurriedly, tookAlexey Alexandrovitch's hand from her son's shoulder, and kissingthe boy, led him out onto the terrace, and quickly came back.

　　"It's time to start, though," said she, glancing at her watch."How is it Betsy doesn't come?..."

　　"Yes," said Alexey Alexandrovitch, and getting up, he folded hishands and cracked his fingers. "I've come to bring you somemoney, too, for nightingales, we know, can't live on fairytales," he said. "You want it, I expect?"

　　"No, I don't...yes, I do," she said, not looking at him, andcrimsoning to the roots of her hair. "But you'll come back hereafter the races, I suppose?"

　　"Oh, yes!" answered Alexey Alexandrovitch. "And here's the gloryof Peterhof, Princess Tverskaya," he added, looking out of thewindow at the elegant English carriage with the tiny seats placedextremely high. "What elegance! Charming! Well, let us bestarting too, then."

　　Princess Tverskaya did not get out of her carriage, but hergroom, in high boots, a cape, and block hat, darted out at theentrance.

　　"I'm going; good-bye!" said Anna, and kissing her son, she wentup to Alexey Alexandrovitch and held out her hand to him. "Itwas ever so nice of you to come."

　　Alexey Alexandrovitch kissed her hand.

　　"Well, au revoir, then! You'll come back for some tea; that'sdelightful!" she said, and went out, gay and radiant. But assoon as she no longer saw him, she was aware of the spot on herhand that his lips had touched, and she shuddered with repulsion.