Anna Karenina (Dole)/Part Six/Chapter 25

by Leo Tolstoy

CHAPTER XXV

Vronsky and Anna passed the rest of the summer and part of the autumn in the country under the same conditions, and took no steps toward getting a divorce. It was agreed between them that they should not make any visits; but they both felt that the longer they lived alone, particularly in the autumn, and without guests, the more unendurable became their life, and that they must have some change.

Nothing which constitutes happiness was apparently wanting to them. They were rich, young, well; they had one child, and they had pleasant occupations. Though they had no guests, Anna continued to take the greatest care of her person and her dress. She read much, both in the way of novels and of serious literature, and sent abroad for valuable books which she saw praised in the foreign magazines and journals. And she read carefully, as one can do only when in the solitude of the country. Moreover, all subjects which interested Vronsky, she studied up in books and scientific journals, so that often he went directly to her with questions relating to agronomics and to architecture, even with those on the breeding of horses, and the best methods of hunting. He was amazed at her knowledge and her memory; and when he felt any doubt about the beginning of an enterprise and wanted moral support, he would consult her, and she would find in books whatever he asked about and then show it to him.

The arrangement of the hospital also occupied her. She not only assisted in it, but, moreover, invented many original ideas and carried them out. But, after all, her chief preoccupation was herself .... herself and how she might retain Vronsky's affections, how she might supply for him all that he needed.

Vronsky appreciated this, and saw that the only aim of her life was to please him and to obey his wishes in every particular; but at the same time he was oppressed by the chains of tenderness which she tried to forge around him. As time went on, he found himself more and more embarrassed by these chains, and more desirous of, if not exactly escaping from them, at least of keeping them from interfering with his independence. If it had not been for his ever increasing desire for freedom, if it had not been for the fact that every time he had to go to the city, to the races, there was a scene with Anna, Vronsky would have been perfectly contented with his existence.

The rôle of rich landed proprietor, which he had chosen for himself as constituting the true work of the Russian aristocracy, and which he had been engaged in now for half a year, gave him ever increasing pleasure. His work, which absorbed him more and more, was prospering admirably. Notwithstanding his enormous expenses for the building of the hospital, for machinery, and cattle imported from Switzerland, and many other things, he felt sure that he was not wasting, but increasing, his property. As far as it concerned the matter of income, the sale of wood, of wheat, of wool, the leasing of land, Vronsky was as firm as a rock, and succeeded in holding to his price. In matters concerning his whole management, both on this and on his other estates, he kept to the simplest and least risky processes, and was to the highest degree economical and prudent in all details. Notwithstanding all the cleverness and shrewdness of his German superintendent, who tried to involve him in purchases and who so managed every calculation that a large outlay was needed at first, but where, by waiting a little, the same thing could be done much cheaper and with greater profit, Vronsky used his own judgment. He would listen to his superintendent, would ask him all sorts of questions, and consent to his proposed plans only when the thing to be imported or constructed was something perfectly new, unheard of as yet in Russia, and calculated to cause surprise. Moreover, he would decide to embark in large enterprises only when he had plenty of money on hand, and in entering on any such outlay he attended to all the details, and insisted that he should have the very best results. Thus it was evident that in carrying out his undertakings he was not dissipating, but was increasing, his estate.

In the month of October the government of Kashin, in which were situated the estates of Vronsky, Sviazhsky, Koznuishef, and a part of Levin's, was to hold its nobiliary elections.^[1] These elections, for many reasons, and because of the persons who took part in them, attracted general attention. Much was said about them and great preparations were made for them. People from Moscow, Petersburg, and even from abroad, who had never witnessed an election, came to look on.

Vronsky had some time before promised Sviazhsky to go with him.

Just before the elections, Sviazhsky, who had often visited Vozdvizhenskoye, came after Vronsky. On the evening before this event Vronsky and Anna almost had a quarrel about his proposed trip. It was getting autumnal in the country, a melancholy, gloomy time, and therefore Vronsky, already ready for a contest, announced with a cold, stem expression, such as he rarely allowed himself toward Anna, that he was going away on this expedition. But to his surprise Anna received the news with entire calmness, and only asked him when he should be back. He looked at her scrutinizingly, not understanding her calmness. She smiled as he looked at her. He knew her power of retiring into herself, and he knew that it was manifested only when she was planning something about herself and did not wish him to know her plans. He was afraid of this now, but he was so desirous of avoiding a scene that he almost forced himself into believing that her manner was sincere.

"I hope you will not be lonely."

"I hope so too," said Anna. "I received a box of books from Gautier yesterday; no, I shall not be lonely."

"She is adopting a new tone, and so much the better," thought he; "but it is all the same thing."

And so, without entering into any frank explanation with her, he started off for the elections. This was the first time since the beginning of their liaison that he had left her without full and complete explanation. In one way this disquieted him; in another, he felt that it was better so.

"At first there will be something as there is now, not altogether clear and above board, but after a while she will get used to it. At all events," he thought, "I can give up to her everything except my independence as a man."

 

1. Dvorianskiye vuiborui.