1060 1061
enjoyed their conversations forever on the same subjects—”Aline-
Nadine,” as the old prince called the sisters’ talks—she knew it must
bore him. What was there left for him to do? To go on writing at his
book he had indeed attempted, and at first he used to go to the library
and make extracts and look up references for his book. But, as he told
her, the more he did nothing, the less time he had to do anything. And
besides, he complained that he had talked too much about his book
here, and that consequently all his ideas about it were muddled and
had lost their interest for him.
One advantage in this town life was that quarrels hardly ever
happened between them here in town. Whether it was that their
conditions were different, or that they had both become more careful
and sensible in that respect, they had no quarrels in Moscow from
jealousy, which they had so dreaded when they moved from the coun-
try.
One event, an event of great importance to both from that point of
view, did indeed happen—that was Kitty’s meeting with Vronsky.
The old Princess Marya Borissovna, Kitty’s godmother, who had
always been very fond of her, had insisted on seeing her. Kitty, though
she did not go into society at all on account of her condition, went with
her father to see the venerable old lady, and there met Vronsky.
The only thing Kitty could reproach herself for at this meeting was
that at the instant when she recognized in his civilian dress the fea-
tures once so familiar to her, her breath failed her, the blood rushed to
her heart, and a vivid blush—she felt it— overspread her face. But
this lasted only a few seconds. Before her father, who purposely began
talking in a loud voice to Vronsky, had finished, she was perfectly ready
to look at Vronsky, to speak to him, if necessary, exactly as she spoke to
Princess Marya Borissovna, and more than that, to do so in such a way
that everything to the faintest intonation and smile would have been
approved by her husband, whose unseen presence she seemed to feel
about her at that instant.
She said a few words to him, even smiled serenely at his joke about
the elections, which he called “our parliament.” (She had to smile to
show she saw the joke.) But she turned away immediately to Princess
Marya Borissovna, and did not once glance at him till he got up to go;
then she looked at him, but evidently only because it would be uncivil
not to look at a man when he is saying good-bye.
She was grateful to her father for saying nothing to her about their
meeting Vronsky, but she saw by his special warmth to her after the
visit during their usual walk that he was pleased with her. She was
pleased with herself. She had not expected she would have had the
power, while keeping somewhere in the bottom of her heart all the
memories of her old feeling for Vronsky, not only to seem but to be
perfectly indifferent and composed with him.
Levin flushed a great deal more than she when she told him she
had met Vronsky at Princess Marya Borissovna’s. It was very hard for
her to tell him this, but still harder to go on speaking of the details of the
meeting, as he did not question her, but simply gazed at her with a
frown.
“I am very sorry you weren’t there,” she said. “Not that you weren’t
in the room...I couldn’t have been so natural in your presence...I am
blushing now much more, much, much more,” she said, blushing till the
tears came into her eyes. “But that you couldn’t see through a crack.”
The truthful eyes told Levin that she was satisfied with herself,
and in spite of her blushing he was quickly reassured and began ques-
tioning her, which was all she wanted. When he had heard everything,
even to the detail that for the first second she could not help flushing,