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Alexandrovitch had allowed himself to observe he would have noticed
the timid and bewildered eyes with which Seryozha glanced first at his
father and then at his mother. But he would not see anything, and he
did not see it.
“Ah, the young man! He’s grown. Really, he’s getting quite a man.
How are you, young man?”
And he gave his hand to the scared child. Seryozha had been shy
of his father before, and now, ever since Alexey Alexandrovitch had
taken to calling him young man, and since that insoluble question had
occurred to him whether Vronsky were a friend or a foe, he avoided his
father. He looked round towards his mother as though seeking shelter.
It was only with his mother that he was at ease. Meanwhile, Alexey
Alexandrovitch was holding his son by the shoulder while he was
speaking to the governess, and Seryozha was so miserably uncomfort-
able that Anna saw he was on the point of tears.
Anna, who had flushed a little the instant her son came in, noticing
that Seryozha was uncomfortable, got up hurriedly, took Alexey
Alexandrovitch’s hand from her son’s shoulder, and kissing the 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 his
hands and cracked his fingers. “I’ve come to bring you some money,
too, for nightingales, we know, can’t live on fairy tales,” he said. “You
want it, I expect?”
“No, I don’t...yes, I do,” she said, not looking at him, and crimsoning
to the roots of her hair. “But you’ll come back here after the races, I
suppose?”
“Oh, yes!” answered Alexey Alexandrovitch. “And here’s the glory
of Peterhof, Princess Tverskaya,” he added, looking out of the window
at the elegant English carriage with the tiny seats placed extremely
high. “What elegance! Charming! Well, let us be starting too, then.”
Princess Tverskaya did not get out of her carriage, but her groom, in
high boots, a cape, and block hat, darted out at the entrance.
“I’m going; good-bye!” said Anna, and kissing her son, she went up
to Alexey Alexandrovitch and held out her hand to him. “It was ever
so nice of you to come.”
Alexey Alexandrovitch kissed her hand.
“Well, au revoir, then! You’ll come back for some tea; that’s de-
lightful!” she said, and went out, gay and radiant. But as soon as she no
longer saw him, she was aware of the spot on her hand that his lips had
touched, and she shuddered with repulsion.