Anna Karenina (Dole)/Part Four/Chapter 7
CHAPTER VII
The next day was Sunday, and Stepan Arkadyevitch went to the Bolshoï or Great Theater, to attend the rehearsal of the ballet, and gave the coral necklace to Masha Chibisovaya, the pretty dancing-girl who was making her début under his protection, as he had promised the day before, and behind the scenes in the dim twilight of the theater he seized his opportunity and kissed her pretty little face glowing with pleasure at his gift. Besides fulfilling his promise as to the coral necklace, he wanted to arrange with her for an assignation after the ballet. Having explained to her that he could not possibly manage to be present at the beginning of the ballet, he promised to come for the next act and take her out for supper.
From the theater Stepan Arkadyevitch went to the Okhotnui Ryad, himself selected a fish and asparagus for the dinner; and at noon he went to Dusseaux's, where three travelers, friends of his, by happy chance were stopping,—Levin, just returned from his journey abroad; his new nachalnik or chief, who had just been appointed, and had come to Moscow to look into affairs; and lastly, his brother-in-law, Karenin, whom he was bound to invite to dinner.
Stepan Arkadyevitch liked to go out to dinner, but what he liked better still was to give a choice little dinner-party with a few select friends. The program that he made out for this day pleased him,—fresh perch, with asparagus, and a simple but superb roast of beef, as pièce de résistance, and the right kinds of wine. Among the guests he expected Kitty and Levin, and, to offset them, a cousin and the young Shcherbatsky; the pièces de résistance among the guests were to be Sergyel Koznuishef, a Muscovite and philosopher, and Karenin, a Petersburger and man of affairs. Moreover he would invite the well-known Pestsof, a comical fellow, a youth of fifty years, an enthusiast, a musician, a ready talker, a historian and a liberal, who would be the sauce or garnish for Koznuishef and Alekseï Aleksandrovitch. He would put every one in good spirits and stir them up.
The second instalment of money from the sale of the wood had been recently received and was not all gone; Dolly for some time had been lovely and charming; and the thought of this dinner in every respect delighted Stepan Arkadyevitch. He was in the happiest frame of mind. There were two things which were rather disagreeable. But these two circumstances were drowned in the sea of joviality which rolled its billows in Stepan Arkadyevitch's soul. These two circumstances were: in the first place, when the evening before he had met Alekseï Aleksandrovitch on the street, he had perceived that he was stern and cold; and uniting the fact that Alekseï Aleksandrovitch had not called or sent word of his presence with certain rumors that had reached his ears about his sister's relations with Vronsky, Stepan Arkadyevitch suspected serious trouble between the husband and wife. This was one unpleasant thing.
The second slight shadow was the fact that the new nachalnik, like all new chiefs, had the reputation of being a terribly exacting man, who got up at six o'clock, worked like a horse, and demanded similar zeal from his subordinates. Moreover, this new nachalnik had the reputation of being a regular bear in his manners and was, according to rumor, a man of the opposite party from that to which his predecessor had belonged, and to which Stepan Arkadyevitch himself had up to that time also belonged.
The afternoon before, Stepan Arkadyevitch had appeared at the office in full uniform and the new nachalnick had been very cordial and had talked with Oblonsky as with an old friend. Consequently he thought it his duty to pay him an unofficial visit. The thought that the new nachalnik might not receive him cordially was the second disturbing element. But Stepan Arkadyevitch felt instinctively that all would be arranged to perfection.
"All people, all men, are transgressors as well as we. Why get angry and quarrel?" he said to himself as he went to the hotel.
"How are you, Vasili?" said he, as he went through the corridor with his hat cocked on one side, and met a lackey of his acquaintance; "have you sacrificed your whiskers? Levin? in number seven? Please show me. Thanks! Do you know, is Count Anitchkin at home?" This was the new nachalnik.
"At your service," said Vasili, with a smile. "We have not seen you for a long time."
"I was here yesterday, but came up another stairway. Is this number seven?"
When Stepan Arkadyevitch entered, Levin was standing in the middle of his room with a muzhik from Tver, measuring a bear-skin.
"Ah! did you kill him?" cried Stepan Arkadyevitch. "Splendid skin! A bear! How are you, Arkhip?"
He held out his hand to the peasant, and then sat down in his paletot and hat.
"Take off your coat, and stay awhile," said Levin, taking his hat.
"I have n't time. I only came in for a little second," replied Oblonsky. He unbuttoned his paletot, then took it off, and stayed a whole hour to talk with Levin about the hunt and other subjects.
"Well now! Tell me, please, what you did while you were abroad; where have you been?" he asked after the peasant had gone.
"I went to Germany, to France, and England, but only to the manufacturing centers, and not to the capitals. I saw a great deal that was new. I am glad I went."
"Yes, yes, I know your ideas about organized labor."
"Oh, no! in Russia there can be no labor question. The question of the workingman does n't concern us; the only important question for Russia is the relation of the workman to the soil; the question exists there, but it is impossible to remedy it there, while here ...."
Oblonsky listened attentively.
"Yes, yes," said he, "it is possible that you are right, but I am glad that you are in better spirits; you hunt the bear, you work, you are enthusiastic. Shcherbatsky told me that he had found you blue and melancholy, talking of nothing but death." ....
"What of that? I am continually thinking of death," replied Levin. "It's true that there is a time to die, and that all is vanity. But I will tell you honestly I set great value on my thought and work; but think of this world—just take notice!—this world of ours, a little mold making the smallest of the planets! and we imagine that our ideas, our works, are something grand. It's all grains of dust!" ....
"All that is as old as the hills, brother!"
"It is old; but you see when this idea becomes clear to us, how miserable life seems! When we know that death will surely come, and that there will be nothing left of us, the most important things seem as insignificant as the turning over of this bear-skin. And so in order to keep away thoughts of death, we hunt and work and try to divert ourselves."
Stepan Arkadyevitch smiled, and gave Levin one of his affectionate looks."Well, of course! Here you come to me and you pounce on me because I seek pleasure in life! Be not so severe, O moralist!"
"All the same, there is some good in life," replied Levin, becoming confused. "Well, I don't know, I only know that we must soon die."
"Why soon?"
"And you know there is less charm in life when we think of death, but more restfulness."
"On the contrary, we must enjoy what there is of it, anyway. .... But," said Stepan Arkadyevitch, rising for the tenth time, "I must go."
"Oh, no! stay a little longer," said Levin, holding him back; "when shall we see each other again? I leave to-morrow."
"I am a queer fellow. This is what I came for! .... Don't fail to come and dine with us to-day. Your brother will be with us; my brother-in-law, Karenin, will be there."
"Is he here?" asked Levin, and he wanted to ask about Kitty; he had heard that she had been in Petersburg at the beginning of the winter, visiting her sister, the wife of a diplomatist, and he did not know whether she had returned or not, but he hesitated about asking.
"Whether she has come back or not, it's all the same. I will accept," he thought.
"Will you come?"
"Well! Of course I will."
"At five o'clock, in ordinary dress."
And Stepan Arkadyevitch rose, and went down to see the new nachalnik. Instinct had not deceived him: this dreadful man proved to be a good fellow; Stepan Arkadyevitch lunched with him, and stayed so long to talk that it was nearly four o'clock when he got to Alekseï Aleksandrovitch's room.