Anna Karenina - LimpidSoft

PART SIX CHAPTER 11
“It’s just this, my dear boy. One must do one of two things: either admit that the
existing order of society is just, and then stick up for one’s rights in it; or acknowledge
that you are enjoying unjust privileges, as I do, and then enjoy them and be
satisfied.”
“No, if it were unjust, you could not enjoy these advantages and be satisfied–at
least I could not. The great thing for me is to feel that I’m not to blame.”
“What do you say, why not go after all?” said Stepan Arkadyevitch, evidently
weary of the strain of thought. “We shan’t go to sleep, you know. Come, let’s go!”
Levin did not answer. What they had said in the conversation, that he acted justly
only in a negative sense, absorbed his thoughts. “Can it be that it’s only possible to
be just negatively?” he was asking himself.
“How strong the smell of the fresh hay is, though,” said Stepan Arkadyevitch,
getting up. “There’s not a chance of sleeping. Vassenka has been getting up some
fun there. Do you hear the laughing and his voice? Hadn’t we better go? Come
along!”
“No, I’m not coming,” answered Levin.
“Surely that’s not a matter of principle too,” said Stepan Arkadyevitch, smiling, as
he felt about in the dark for his cap.
“It’s not a matter of principle, but why should I go?”
“But do you know you are preparing trouble for yourself,” said Stepan Arkadyevitch,
finding his cap and getting up.
“How so?”
“Do you suppose I don’t see the line you’ve taken up with your wife? I heard
how it’s a question of the greatest consequence, whether or not you’re to be away
for a couple of days’ shooting. That’s all very well as an idyllic episode, but for your
whole life that won’t answer. A man must be independent; he has his masculine
interests. A man has to be manly,” said Oblonsky, opening the door.
“In what way? To go running after servant girls?” said Levin.
“Why not, if it amuses him? `cca ne tire pas a consequence. It won’t do my wife any
harm, and it’ll amuse me. The great thing is to respect the sanctity of the home.
There should be nothing in the home. But don’t tie your own hands.”
“Perhaps so,” said Levin dryly, and he turned on his side. “Tomorrow, early, I
want to go shooting, and I won’t wake anyone, and shall set off at daybreak.”
“Messieurs, venez vite!” they heard the voice of Veslovsky coming back. “Charmante!
I’ve made such a discovery. Charmante! a perfect Gretchen, and I’ve already
made friends with her. Really, exceedingly pretty,” he declared in a tone of approval,
as though she had been made pretty entirely on his account, and he was expressing
his satisfaction with the entertainment that had been provided for him.
Levin pretended to be asleep, while Oblonsky, putting on his slippers, and lighting
a cigar, walked out of the barn, and soon their voices were lost.
For a long while Levin could not get to sleep. He heard the horses munching hay,
then he heard the peasant and his elder boy getting ready for the night, and going
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