Anna Karenina - LimpidSoft

PART THREE CHAPTER 9
Whatever faults Levin had, there was not a trace of hypocrisy in him, and so the
children showed him the same friendliness that they saw in their mother’s face. On
his invitation, the two elder ones at once jumped out to him and ran with him as
simply as they would have done with their nurse or Miss Hoole or their mother.
Lily, too, began begging to go to him, and her mother handed her to him; he sat her
on his shoulder and ran along with her.
“Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid, Darya Alexandrovna!” he said, smiling goodhumoredly
to the mother; “there’s no chance of my hurting or dropping her.”
And, looking at his strong, agile, assiduously careful and needlessly wary movements,
the mother felt her mind at rest, and smiled gaily and approvingly as she
watched him.
Here, in the country, with children, and with Darya Alexandrovna, with whom he
was in sympathy, Levin was in a mood not infrequent with him, of childlike lightheartedness
that she particularly liked in him. As he ran with the children, he taught
them gymnastic feats, set Miss Hoole laughing with his queer English accent, and
talked to Darya Alexandrovna of his pursuits in the country.
After dinner, Darya Alexandrovna, sitting alone with him on the balcony, began
to speak of Kitty.
“You know, Kitty’s coming here, and is going to spend the summer with me.”
“Really,” he said, flushing, and at once, to change the conversation, he said: “Then
I’ll send you two cows, shall I? If you insist on a bill you shall pay me five roubles a
month; but it’s really too bad of you.”
“No, thank you. We can manage very well now.”
“Oh, well, then, I’ll have a look at your cows, and if you’ll allow me, I’ll give
directions about their food. Everything depends on their food.”
And Levin, to turn the conversation, explained to Darya Alexandrovna the theory
of cow-keeping, based on the principle that the cow is simply a machine for the
transformation of food into milk, and so on.
He talked of this, and passionately longed to hear more of Kitty, and, at the same
time, was afraid of hearing it. He dreaded the breaking up of the inward peace he
had gained with such effort.
“Yes, but still all this has to be looked after, and who is there to look after it?”
Darya Alexandrovna responded, without interest.
She had by now got her household matters so satisfactorily arranged, thanks to
Marya Philimonovna, that she was disinclined to make any change in them; besides,
she had no faith in Levin’s knowledge of farming. General principles, as to the cow
being a machine for the production of milk, she looked on with suspicion. It seemed
to her that such principles could only be a hindrance in farm management. It all
seemed to her a far simpler matter: all that was needed, as Marya Philimonovna had
explained, was to give Brindle and Whitebreast more food and drink, and not to let
the cook carry all the kitchen slops to the laundry maid’s cow. That was clear. But
general propositions as to feeding on meal and on grass were doubtful and obscure.
And, what was most important, she wanted to talk about Kitty.
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