And suddenly they both felt that although they were friends, and had dined together and drunk wine, which ought to have brought them even closer, each was thinking his own thoughts and had no common ground with the other. Oblonsky had experienced this acute alienation happening after a dinner instead of intimacy several times before, and knew what to do in these circumstances.
‘The bill!’ he shouted, and went into the next room, where he immediately ran into an aide-de-camp he knew and started having a conversation with him about an actress and the man who kept her. Talking to the aide-de-camp, Oblonsky immediately experienced a feeling of relief and respite after speaking to Levin, who always caused him too much mental and emotional strain.
When the Tatar appeared with the bill for twenty-six roubles and a number of kopecks, plus tip, Levin, who as a country-dweller would have been appalled at any other time to have to pay fourteen roubles as his share, now took no notice of it, paid up, and set off home, so that he could change before going to the Shcherbatskys, where his fate would be decided.
1 ‘It is heavenly when I have mastered my earthly desires; but even when I have not succeeded, I have also had right good pleasure!’
12
PRINCESS KITTY SHCHERBATSKY was eighteen years old. She had come out for her first season that winter.* Her success in society was greater than that of both her elder sisters, and even greater than her mother had expected. Not only were almost all the young men who danced at the Moscow balls in love with Kitty, but two serious suitors had already presented themselves in her first season: Levin and, immediately after his departure, Count Vronsky.
Levin’s appearance at the beginning of winter, his frequent visits, and his obvious love for Kitty had prompted the first serious conversations between Kitty’s parents about her future, and also arguments between the Prince and Princess. The Prince was on Levin’s side, and said that he could wish for nothing better for Kitty. The Princess, however, with that habit women have of sidestepping the issue, said that Kitty was too young, that Levin had done nothing to show he had serious intentions, that Kitty was not attached to him, and there were other arguments; but she did not cite the most important one, which was that she was expecting a better match for her daughter, that she did not like Levin, and did not understand him. When Levin had suddenly left, the Princess was glad, and told her husband triumphantly: ‘You see, I was right.’ And then when Vronsky appeared, she was gladder still, since it confirmed her opinion that Kitty should make not just a good but a brilliant match.
For the mother there could be no comparison between Vronsky and Levin. The mother did not like Levin’s unconventional and strident opinions, his awkwardness in society, which she supposed was based on pride, and what to her was a peculiar kind of life in the country, involving cattle and peasants; she also greatly disliked the fact that he was in love with her daughter and had paid visits for a month and a half, as if he were waiting for something or scouting things out, or as if he were afraid he would be bestowing too great an honour if he proposed, and did not understand that paying frequent visits to a house where there was a marriageable girl obliged him to make his intentions clear. And then he had suddenly left without any explanation. ‘It’s a good thing he is so unattractive, and that Kitty did not fall in love with him,’ the mother thought.
Vronsky satisfied all the mother’s desires. He was very rich, clever, high-born, on his way to making a brilliant career in the army and at court, and completely charming. One could not hope for better.
Vronsky was clearly courting Kitty at balls, he danced with her and called on her at home, so it was impossible to doubt the seriousness of his intentions. Despite that, however, the mother had been in a terrible state of anxiety and agitation all winter.
The Princess herself had married thirty years before, following her aunt’s matchmaking. The fiancé, about whom everything was known in advance, had arrived, inspected his future bride, and been inspected in turn; the matchmaking aunt* had ascertained and communicated the impression produced by both parties; the impression had been favourable; then on the appointed day the expected proposal was made to her parents and accepted. Everything had been very easy and simple. At least that is how it had seemed to the Princess. But with her own daughters she had experienced how the apparently ordinary business of giving away a daughter in marriage was neither easy nor simple. How many fears had been experienced, how many changes of heart there had been, how much money had been spent, and how many disagreements there had been with her husband over the betrothals of her two eldest, Darya and Natalya! Now that her youngest had come out, she was experiencing the same fears, the same doubts, and even more arguments with her husband than there had been over the two eldest. Like all fathers, the old Prince was particularly sensitive where the honour and purity of his daughters was concerned; he was inordinately protective of his daughters and particularly Kitty, who was his favourite, and he harangued the Princess every step of the way for compromising their daughter. The Princess had grown accustomed to this with their first two daughters, but she now felt that the Prince had more justification for being so fastidious. She saw that the mores of society had changed a good deal in recent times, and that a mother’s responsibilities had become even more difficult. She saw that girls of Kitty’s age now formed various kinds of associations, enrolled in courses,* consorted freely with men, drove about the city alone; she saw that many did not curtsey, and above all, all were firmly convinced that choosing a husband was their business and not their parents’. ‘Girls aren’t married off nowadays like they used to be,’ was what all these young girls and even all old people thought and said. But how girls were married off these days the Princess could not find out from anyone. The French custom for parents to decide the fate of their children was not accepted and was condemned. The English custom of giving girls complete freedom was also not accepted and was impossible in Russian society. The Russian custom of matchmaking was considered abominable in some way, and was laughed at by everyone, including the Princess herself. But how a girl should marry or be given in marriage no one knew. Everyone whom the Princess happened to talk to about this told her the same thing: ‘Good gracious, it is high time we left that old stuff behind. It is the young people who are getting married, after all, not the parents, and we must leave young people to arrange things as they see fit.’ But it was all very well for those who did not have daughters to say such things; and the Princess realized that if her daughter became close to someone, she might fall in love, and fall in love with someone who did not want to marry, or someone not suitable as a husband. And no matter how much it was impressed upon the Princess that these days young people should decide their own fates, she could no more believe this than she could believe that loaded pistols could ever be the best toys for five-year-old children. And for that reason the Princess worried more about Kitty than she had about her elder daughters.
Now she was afraid that Vronsky would limit himself to merely courting her daughter. She could see that her daughter was already in love with him, but she comforted herself with the idea that he was an honest man and would not do something like that. But she also knew how easy it was to turn a girl’s head with the current freedom of address, and how men generally made light of this misdeed. The previous week Kitty had recounted to her mother her conversation with Vronsky during the mazurka. The Princess was partly reassured by this conversation, but still she could not be completely calm. Vronsky had told Kitty that he and his brother were so used to submitting to their mother in all things that they would never decide to undertake anything important without consulting her. ‘And I’m now looking forward to my dear mother’s arrival from Petersburg with particular happiness,’ he had said.