Part Two: Chapter 30

by Leo Tolstoy

　　In the little German watering-place to which the Shtcherbatskyshad betaken themselves, as in all places indeed where people aregathered together, the usual process, as it were, of thecrystallization of society went on, assigning to each member ofthat society a definite and unalterable place. Just as theparticle of water in frost, definitely and unalterably, takes thespecial form of the crystal of snow, so each new person thatarrived at the springs was at once placed in his special place.

　　Fuerst Shtcherbatsky, sammt Gemahlin und Tochter, by theapartments they took, and from their name and from the friendsthey made, were immediately crystallized into a definite placemarked out for them.

　　There was visiting the watering-place that year a real GermanFuerstin, in consequence of which the crystallizing process wenton more vigorously than ever. Princess Shtcherbatskaya wished,above everything, to present her daughter to this Germanprincess, and the day after their arrival she duly performed thisrite. Kitty made a low and graceful curtsey in the very simple,that is to say, very elegant frock that had been ordered her fromParis. The German princess said, "I hope the roses will sooncome back to this pretty little face," and for the Shtcherbatskyscertain definite lines of existence were at once laid down fromwhich there was no departing. The Shtcherbatskys made theacquaintance too of the family of an English Lady Somebody, andof a German countess and her son, wounded in the last war, and ofa learned Swede, and of M. Canut and his sister. But yetinevitably the Shtcherbatskys were thrown most into the societyof a Moscow lady, Marya Yevgenyevna Rtishtcheva and her daughter,whom Kitty disliked, because she had fallen ill, like herself,over a love affair, and a Moscow colonel, whom Kitty had knownfrom childhood, and always seen in uniform and epaulets, and whonow, with his little eyes and his open neck and flowered cravat,was uncommonly ridiculous and tedious, because there was nogetting rid of him. When all this was so firmly established,Kitty began to be very much bored, especially as the prince wentaway to Carlsbad and she was left alone with her mother. Shetook no interest in the people she knew, feeling that nothingfresh would come of them. Her chief mental interest in thewatering-place consisted in watching and making theories aboutthe people she did not know. It was characteristic of Kitty thatshe always imagined everything in people in the most favorablelight possible, especially so in those she did not know. And nowas she made surmises as to who people were, what were theirrelations to one another, and what they were like, Kitty endowedthem with the most marvelous and noble characters, and foundconfirmation of her idea in her observations.

　　Of these people the one that attracted her most was a Russiangirl who had come to the watering-place with an invalid Russianlady, Madame Stahl, as everyone called her. Madame Stahlbelonged to the highest society, but she was so ill that shecould not walk, and only on exceptionally fine days made herappearance at the springs in an invalid carriage. But it was notso much from ill-health as from pride--so PrincessShtcherbatskaya interpreted it--that Madame Stahl had not madethe acquaintance of anyone among the Russians there. The Russiangirl looked after Madame Stahl, and besides that, she was, asKitty observed, on friendly terms with all the invalids who wereseriously ill, and there were many of them at the springs, andlooked after them in the most natural way. This Russian girl wasnot, as Kitty gathered, related to Madame Stahl, nor was she apaid attendant. Madame Stahl called her Varenka, and otherpeople called her "Mademoiselle Varenka." Apart from theinterest Kitty took in this girl's relations with Madame Stahland with other unknown persons, Kitty, as often happened, felt aninexplicable attraction to Mademoiselle Varenka, and was awarewhen their eyes met that she too liked her.

　　Of Mademoiselle Varenka one would not say that she had passed herfirst youth, but she was, as it were, a creature without youth;she might have been taken for nineteen or for thirty. If herfeatures were criticized separately, she was handsome rather thanplain, in spite of the sickly hue of her face. She would havebeen a good figure, too, if it had not been for her extremethinness and the size of her head, which was too large for hermedium height. But she was not likely to be attractive to men.She was like a fine flower, already past its bloom and withoutfragrance, though the petals were still unwithered. Moreover,she would have been unattractive to men also from the lack ofjust what Kitty had too much of--of the suppressed fire ofvitality, and the consciousness of her own attractiveness.

　　She always seemed absorbed in work about which there could be nodoubt, and so it seemed she could not take interest in anythingoutside it. It was just this contrast with her own position thatwas for Kitty the great attraction of Mademoiselle Varenka.Kitty felt that in her, in her manner of life, she would find anexample of what she was now so painfully seeking: interest inlife, a dignity in life--apart from the worldly relations ofgirls with men, which so revolted Kitty, and appeared to her nowas a shameful hawking about of goods in search of a purchaser.The more attentively Kitty watched her unknown friend, the moreconvinced she was this girl was the perfect creature she fanciedher, and the more eagerly she wished to make her acquaintance.

　　The two girls used to meet several times a day, and every timethey met, Kitty's eyes said: "Who are you? What are you? Areyou really the exquisite creature I imagine you to be? But forgoodness' sake don't suppose," her eyes added, "that I wouldforce my acquaintance on you, I simply admire you and like you.""I like you too, and you're very, very sweet. And I should likeyou better still, if I had time," answered the eyes of theunknown girl. Kitty saw indeed, that she was always busy.Either she was taking the children of a Russian family home fromthe springs, or fetching a shawl for a sick lady, and wrappingher up in it, or trying to interest an irritable invalid, orselecting and buying cakes for tea for someone.

　　Soon after the arrival of the Shtcherbatskys there appeared inthe morning crowd at the springs two persons who attracteduniversal and unfavorable attention. These were a tall man witha stooping figure, and huge hands, in an old coat too short forhim, with black, simple, and yet terrible eyes, and a pockmarked,kind-looking woman, very badly and tastelessly dressed.Recognizing these persons as Russians, Kitty had already in herimagination begun constructing a delightful and touching romanceabout them. But the princess, having ascertained from thevisitors' list that this was Nikolay Levin and Marya Nikolaevna,explained to Kitty what a bad man this Levin was, and all herfancies about these two people vanished. Not so much from whather mother told her, as from the fact that it was Konstantin'sbrother, this pair suddenly seemed to Kitty intensely unpleasant.This Levin, with his continual twitching of his head, aroused inher now an irrepressible feeling of disgust.

　　It seemed to her that his big, terrible eyes, which persistentlypursued her, expressed a feeling of hatred and contempt, and shetried to avoid meeting him.