Anna Karenina - LimpidSoft

PART SIX CHAPTER 21
begun to speak of matters near his heart, of which he could not speak to Anna, he
was now making a clean breast of everything, and that the question of his pursuits
in the country fell into the same category of matters near his heart, as the question of
his relations with Anna.
“Well, I will go on,” he said, collecting himself. “The great thing is that as I work
I want to have a conviction that what I am doing will not die with me, that I shall
have heirs to come after me,–and this I have not. Conceive the position of a man
who knows that his children, the children of the woman he loves, will not be his, but
will belong to someone who hates them and cares nothing about them! It is awful!”
He paused, evidently much moved.
“Yes, indeed, I see that. But what can Anna do?” queried Darya Alexandrovna.
“Yes, that brings me to the object of my conversation,” he said, calming himself
with an effort. “Anna can, it depends on her.... Even to petition the Tsar for legitimization,
a divorce is essential. And that depends on Anna. Her husband agreed to
a divorce–at that time your husband had arranged it completely. And now, I know,
he would not refuse it. It is only a matter of writing to him. He said plainly at
that time that if she expressed the desire, he would not refuse. Of course,” he said
gloomily, “it is one of those Pharisaical cruelties of which only such heartless men
are capable. He knows what agony any recollection of him must give her, and knowing
her, he must have a letter from her. I can understand that it is agony to her. But
the matter is of such importance, that one must passer pardessus toutes ces finesses de
sentiment. Il y va du bonheur et de l’existence d’Anne et de ses enfants. I won’t speak of
myself, though it’s hard for me, very hard,” he said, with an expression as though
he were threatening someone for its being hard for him. “And so it is, princess, that
I am shamelessly clutching at you as an anchor of salvation. Help me to persuade
her to write to him and ask for a divorce.”
“Yes, of course,” Darya Alexandrovna said dreamily, as she vividly recalled her
last interview with Alexey Alexandrovitch. “Yes, of course,” she repeated with decision,
thinking of Anna.
“Use your influence with her, make her write. I don’t like–I’m almost unable to
speak about this to her.”
“Very well, I will talk to her. But how is it she does not think of it herself?”
said Darya Alexandrovna, and for some reason she suddenly at that point recalled
Anna’s strange new habit of half-closing her eyes. And she remembered that Anna
drooped her eyelids just when the deeper questions of life were touched upon. “Just
as though she half-shut her eyes to her own life, so as not to see everything,” thought
Dolly. “Yes, indeed, for my own sake and for hers I will talk to her,” Dolly said in
reply to his look of gratitude.
They got up and walked to the house.
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