Anna Karenina - LimpidSoft

PART ONE CHAPTER 15
Chapter 15
AT the end of the evening Kitty told her mother of her conversation with Levin,
and in spite of all the pity she felt for Levin, she was glad at the thought that
she had received an offer. She had no doubt that she had acted rightly. But after
she had gone to bed, for a long while she could not sleep. One impression pursued
her relentlessly. It was Levin’s face, with his scowling brows, and his kind eyes
looking out in dark dejection below them, as he stood listening to her father, and
glancing at her and at Vronsky. And she felt so sorry for him that tears came into
her eyes. But immediately she thought of the man for whom she had given him up.
She vividly recalled his manly, resolute face, his noble self-possession, and the good
nature conspicuous in everything towards everyone. She remembered the love for
her of the man she loved, and once more all was gladness in her soul, and she lay
on the pillow, smiling with happiness. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry; but what could I do?
It’s not my fault,” she said to herself; but an inner voice told her something else.
Whether she felt remorse at having won Levin’s love, or at having refused him, she
did not know. But her happiness was poisoned by doubts. “Lord, have pity on us;
Lord, have pity on us; Lord, have pity on us!” she repeated to herself, till she fell
asleep.
Meanwhile there took place below, in the prince’s little library, one of the scenes
so often repeated between the parents on account of their favorite daughter.
“What? I’ll tell you what!” shouted the prince, waving his arms, and at once wrapping
his squirrel-lined dressing-gown round him again. “That you’ve no pride, no
dignity; that you’re disgracing, ruining your daughter by this vulgar, stupid matchmaking!”
“But, really, for mercy’s sake, prince, what have I done?” said the princess, almost
crying.
She, pleased and happy after her conversation with her daughter, had gone to the
prince to say good-night as usual, and though she had no intention of telling him
of Levin’s offer and Kitty’s refusal, still she hinted to her husband that she fancied
things were practically settled with Vronsky, and that he would declare himself so
soon as his mother arrived. And thereupon, at those words, the prince had all at
once flown into a passion, and began to use unseemly language.
“What have you done? I’ll tell you what. First of all, you’re trying to catch an
eligible gentleman, and all Moscow will be talking of it, and with good reason. If
you have evening parties, invite everyone, don’t pick out the possible suitors. Invite
all the young bucks. Engage a piano player, and let them dance, and not as you do
things nowadays, hunting up good matches. It makes me sick, sick to see it, and
you’ve gone on till you’ve turned the poor wench’s head. Levin’s a thousand times
the better man. As for this little Petersburg swell, they’re turned out by machinery,
all on one pattern, and all precious rubbish. But if he were a prince of the blood, my
daughter need not run after anyone.”
“But what have I done?”
“Why, you’ve...” The prince was crying wrathfully.
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