Anna Karenina - LimpidSoft

PART THREE CHAPTER 26
on people, Sviazhsky’s character would have presented no doubt or difficulty to
him: he would have said to himself, “a fool or a knave,” and everything would have
seemed clear. But he could not say “a fool,” because Sviazhsky was unmistakably
clever, and moreover, a highly cultivated man, who was exceptionally modest over
his culture. There was not a subject he knew nothing of. But he did not display his
knowledge except when he was compelled to do so. Still less could Levin say that
he was a knave, as Sviazhsky was unmistakably an honest, good-hearted, sensible
man, who worked good-humoredly, keenly, and perseveringly at his work; he was
held in high honor by everyone about him, and certainly he had never consciously
done, and was indeed incapable of doing, anything base.
Levin tried to understand him, and could not understand him, and looked at him
and his life as at a living enigma.
Levin and he were very friendly, and so Levin used to venture to sound Sviazhsky,
to try to get at the very foundation of his view of life; but it was always in vain. Every
time Levin tried to penetrate beyond the outer chambers of Sviazhsky’s mind, which
were hospitably open to all, he noticed that Sviazhsky was slightly disconcerted;
faint signs of alarm were visible in his eyes, as though he were afraid Levin would
understand him, and he would give him a kindly, good-humored repulse.
Just now, since his disenchantment with farming, Levin was particularly glad to
stay with Sviazhsky. Apart from the fact that the sight of this happy and affectionate
couple, so pleased with themselves and everyone else, and their well-ordered home
had always a cheering effect on Levin, he felt a longing, now that he was so dissatisfied
with his own life, to get at that secret in Sviazhsky that gave him such clearness,
definiteness, and good courage in life. Moreover, Levin knew that at Sviazhsky’s he
should meet the landowners of the neighborhood, and it was particularly interesting
for him just now to hear and take part in those rural conversations concerning
crops, laborers’ wages, and so on, which, he was aware, are conventionally regarded
as something very low, but which seemed to him just now to constitute the one subject
of importance. “It was not, perhaps, of importance in the days of serfdom, and
it may not be of importance in England. In both cases the conditions of agriculture
are firmly established; but among us now, when everything has been turned upside
down and is only just taking shape, the question what form these conditions will
take is the one question of importance in Russia,” thought Levin.
The shooting turned out to be worse than Levin had expected. The marsh was
dry and there were no grouse at all. He walked about the whole day and only
brought back three birds, but to make up for that–he brought back, as he always
did from shooting, an excellent appetite, excellent spirits, and that keen, intellectual
mood which with him always accompanied violent physical exertion. And while
out shooting, when he seemed to be thinking of nothing at all, suddenly the old man
and his family kept coming back to his mind, and the impression of them seemed
to claim not merely his attention, but the solution of some question connected with
them.
In the evening at tea, two landowners who had come about some business connected
with a wardship were of the party, and the interesting conversation Levin
had been looking forward to sprang up.
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