Anna Karenina - LimpidSoft

PART SEVEN CHAPTER 16
though they were soft springs, and putting them into linen garments, such pity for
the little creature came upon him, and such terror that she would hurt it, that he held
her hand back.
Lizaveta Petrovna laughed.
“Don’t be frightened, don’t be frightened!”
When the baby had been put to rights and transformed into a firm doll, Lizaveta
Petrovna dandled it as though proud of her handiwork, and stood a little away so
that Levin might see his son in all his glory.
Kitty looked sideways in the same direction, never taking her eyes off the baby.
“Give him to me! give him to me!” she said, and even made as though she would sit
up.
“What are you thinking of, Katerina Alexandrovna, you mustn’t move like that!
Wait a minute. I’ll give him to you. Here we’re showing papa what a fine fellow we
are!”
And Lizaveta Petrovna, with one hand supporting the wobbling head, lifted up on
the other arm the strange, limp, red creature, whose head was lost in its swaddling
clothes. But it had a nose, too, and slanting eyes and smacking lips.
“A splendid baby!” said Lizaveta Petrovna.
Levin sighed with mortification. This splendid baby excited in him no feeling but
disgust and compassion. It was not at all the feeling he had looked forward to.
He turned away while Lizaveta Petrovna put the baby to the unaccustomed breast.
Suddenly laughter made him look round. The baby had taken the breast.
“Come, that’s enough, that’s enough!” said Lizaveta Petrovna, but Kitty would
not let the baby go. He fell asleep in her arms.
“Look, now,” said Kitty, turning the baby so that he could see it. The aged-looking
little face suddenly puckered up still more and the baby sneezed.
Smiling, hardly able to restrain his tears, Levin kissed his wife and went out of
the dark room. What he felt towards this little creature was utterly unlike what he
had expected. There was nothing cheerful and joyous in the feeling; on the contrary,
it was a new torture of apprehension. It was the consciousness of a new sphere of
liability to pain. And this sense was so painful at first, the apprehension lest this
helpless creature should suffer was so intense, that it prevented him from noticing
the strange thrill of senseless joy and even pride that he had felt when the baby
sneezed.
659