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CHAPTER 16
THOUGH SHE HAD SENT word the day before to her husband that it was nothing to her whether his sister came or not, Darya Alexandrovna Oblonskaya had made everything ready for her arrival, and was expecting her sister-in-law with emotion.
Dolly was crushed by her sorrow, utterly swallowed up by it. Still she did not forget that A
“Oh no, not at all to blame! The dear.”
“I know nothing of her except the very best, and I have seen nothing but kindness and affection from her toward myself.”
“Only kindness, true kindness indeed.”
And it was true that as far as she could recall her impressions of Petersburg at the Karenins’, she did not like their household itself; Karenin was a strange and distant man, as were most men she had ever known from the Higher Branches, and there was something artificial in the whole framework of their family life. “But why should I not receive her? If only she doesn’t take it into her head to console me!” said Dolly to Dolichka, who clucked “Oh dear” and “I should think not,” while the two of them together folded laundry.
“All consolation and counsel and Christian forgiveness, all that I have thought over a thousand times, and it’s all no use.”
“No use, no use at all!”
Dolly did not want to talk of her sorrow, but with that sorrow in her heart she could not talk of outside matters. She knew that in one way or another she would tell A
She got up and embraced her sister-in-law.
“What, here already!” she said as she kissed her. Dolichka gave a low bow to Android Karenina, who offered a reserved nod in return.
“Dolly, how glad I am to see you!” A
“I am glad, too,” said Dolly, faintly smiling, and trying by the expression of A
A
“You are radiant with health and happiness!” said Dolly, almost with envy.
“I?… Yes,” said A
“Dolly,” A
Dolly flicked off her own Class III, but she looked coldly at A
“Dolly, dear,” she said, “I don’t want to speak for him to you, nor to try to comfort you; that’s impossible. But, darling, I’m simply sorry, sorry from my heart for you!”
Under the thick lashes of her shining eyes tears suddenly glittered. She moved nearer to her sister-in-law and took her hand in her own vigorous little hand. Dolly did not shrink away, but her face did not lose its blank expression. She said:
“To comfort me is impossible. Everything’s lost after what has happened, everything’s over!”
And as soon as she had said this, her face suddenly softened. A
“But, Dolly, what’s to be done, what’s to be done? How is it best to act in this awful position-that’s what you must think of.”
“All’s over, and there’s nothing more,” said Dolly. “And the worst of all is, you see, that I can’t cast him off: there are the children, I am tied. And I can’t live with him! It’s a torture to me to see him.”
“Dolly, darling, he has spoken to me, but I want to hear it from you: tell me about it.”
Dolly looked at her inquiringly.
Sympathy and love unfeigned were visible on A
“Very well,” she said all at once. “But I will tell you it from the begi
“You must understand that I was so far from suspecting infidelity, I regarded it as impossible, and then-try to imagine it-with such ideas, for all to be revealed, played back in a communiqué, suddenly all the horror, all the loathsomeness… You must try and understand me. To be fully convinced of one’s happiness, and all at once…” continued Dolly, holding back her sobs, “a mistress, my mécanicie
“Oh, yes, I understand! I understand! Dolly, dearest, I do understand,” said A
“And do you imagine he realizes all the awfulness of my position?” Dolly resumed. “Not the slightest! He’s happy and contented.”
“Oh, no!” A
“Is he capable of remorse?” Dolly interrupted, gazing intently into her sister-in-law’s face.
“Yes. I know him. I could not look at him without feeling sorry for him. We both know him. He’s good-hearted, but he’s proud, and now he’s so humiliated. What touched me most…” (and here A
Dolly looked dreamily away beyond her sister-in-law as she listened to her words, and then responded angrily.
“She’s young, you see, she’s pretty, she’s technically proficient. Do you know, A
Again her eyes glowed with hatred.
“And after that he will tell me… What! Can I believe him? Never! No, everything is over, everything that once made my comfort, the reward of my work, and my sufferings… What’s so awful is that all at once my heart’s turned, and instead of love and tenderness, I have nothing but hatred for him; yes, hatred. I could kill him.”
Dolly grew calmer, and for two minutes both were silent.
“What’s to be done? Think for me, A
A
“One thing I would say,” began A