Anna Karenina - LimpidSoft

PART TWO CHAPTER 34
“Prince Alexander Shtcherbatsky,” said Madame Stahl, lifting upon him her heavenly
eyes, in which Kitty discerned a look of annoyance. “Delighted! I have taken a
great fancy to your daughter.”
“You are still in weak health?”
“Yes; I’m used to it,” said Madame Stahl, and she introduced the prince to the
Swedish count.
“You are scarcely changed at all,” the prince said to her. “It’s ten or eleven years
since I had the honor of seeing you.”
“Yes; God sends the cross and sends the strength to bear it. Often one wonders
what is the goal of this life?... The other side!” she said angrily to Varenka, who had
rearranged the rug over her feet not to her satisfaction.
“To do good, probably,” said the prince with a twinkle in his eye.
“That is not for us to judge,” said Madame Stahl, perceiving the shade of expression
on the prince’s face. “So you will send me that book, dear count? I’m very
grateful to you,” she said to the young Swede.
“Ah!” cried the prince, catching sight of the Moscow colonel standing near, and
with a bow to Madame Stahl he walked away with his daughter and the Moscow
colonel, who joined them.
“That’s our aristocracy, prince!” the Moscow colonel said with ironical intention.
He cherished a grudge against Madame Stahl for not making his acquaintance.
“She’s just the same,” replied the prince.
“Did you know her before her illness, prince–that’s to say before she took to her
bed?”
“Yes. She took to her bed before my eyes,” said the prince.
“They say it’s ten years since she has stood on her feet.”
“She doesn’t stand up because her legs are too short. She’s a very bad figure.”
“Papa, it’s not possible!” cried Kitty.
“That’s what wicked tongues say, my darling. And your Varenka catches it too,”
he added. “Oh, these invalid ladies!”
“Oh, no, papa!” Kitty objected warmly. “Varenka worships her. And then she
does so much good! Ask anyone! Everyone knows her and Aline Stahl.”
“Perhaps so,” said the prince, squeezing her hand with his elbow; “but it’s better
when one does good so that you may ask everyone and no one knows.”
Kitty did not answer, not because she had nothing to say, but because she did not
care to reveal her secret thoughts even to her father. But, strange to say, although she
had so made up her mind not to be influenced by her father’s views, not to let him
into her inmost sanctuary, she felt that the heavenly image of Madame Stahl, which
she had carried for a whole month in her heart, had vanished, never to return, just as
the fantastic figure made up of some clothes thrown down at random vanishes when
one sees that it is only some garment lying there. All that was left was a woman with
short legs, who lay down because she had a bad figure, and worried patient Varenka
for not arranging her rug to her liking. And by no effort of the imagination could
Kitty bring back the former Madame Stahl.
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