| Part One , Chapter 11 Levin emptied his glass , and they were silent for a while . " There 's one other thing I ought to tell you . Do you know Vronsky ? " Stepan Arkadyevitch asked Levin . " No , I do n't . Why do you ask ? " " Give us another bottle , " Stepan Arkadyevitch directed the Tatar , who was filling up their glasses and fidgeting round them just when he was not wanted . " Why you ought to know Vronsky is that he 's one of your rivals . " " Who 's Vronsky ? " said Levin , and his face was suddenly transformed from the look of childlike ecstasy which Oblonsky had just been admiring to an angry and unpleasant expression . " Vronsky is one of the sons of Count Kirill Ivanovitch Vronsky , and one of the finest specimens of the gilded youth of Petersburg . I made his acquaintance in Tver when I was there on official business , and he came there for the levy of recruits . Fearfully rich , handsome , great connections , an aide-de-camp , and with all that a very nice , good-natured fellow . But he 's more than simply a good-natured fellow , as I 've found out here—he 's a cultivated man , too , and very intelligent ; he 's a man who 'll make his mark . " Levin scowled and was dumb . " Well , he turned up here soon after you 'd gone , and as I can see , he 's over head and ears in love with Kitty , and you know that her mother ... " " Excuse me , but I know nothing , " said Levin , frowning gloomily . And immediately he recollected his brother Nikolay and how hateful he was to have been able to forget him . " You wait a bit , wait a bit , " said Stepan Arkadyevitch , smiling and touching his hand . " I 've told you what I know , and I repeat that in this delicate and tender matter , as far as one can conjecture , I believe the chances are in your favor . " Levin dropped back in his chair ; his face was pale . " But I would advise you to settle the thing as soon as may be , " pursued Oblonsky , filling up his glass . " No , thanks , I ca n't drink any more , " said Levin , pushing away his glass . " I shall be drunk ... . Come , tell me how are you getting on ? " he went on , obviously anxious to change the conversation . " One word more : in any case I advise you to settle the question soon . Tonight I do n't advise you to speak , " said Stepan Arkadyevitch . " Go round tomorrow morning , make an offer in due form , and God bless you ... " " Oh , do you still think of coming to me for some shooting ? Come next spring , do , " said Levin . Now his whole soul was full of remorse that he had begun this conversation with Stepan Arkadyevitch . A feeling such as his was profaned by talk of the rivalry of some Petersburg officer , of the suppositions and the counsels of Stepan Arkadyevitch . Stepan Arkadyevitch smiled . He knew what was passing in Levin 's soul . " I 'll come some day , " he said . " But women , my boy , they 're the pivot everything turns upon . Things are in a bad way with me , very bad . And it 's all through women . Tell me frankly now , " he pursued , picking up a cigar and keeping one hand on his glass ; " give me your advice . " " Why , what is it ? " " I 'll tell you . Suppose you 're married , you love your wife , but you 're fascinated by another woman ... " " Excuse me , but I 'm absolutely unable to comprehend how ... just as I ca n't comprehend how I could now , after my dinner , go straight to a baker 's shop and steal a roll . " Stepan Arkadyevitch 's eyes sparkled more than usual . " Why not ? A roll will sometimes smell so good one ca n't resist it . " " Himmlisch ist 's , wenn ich bezwungen Meine irdische Begier ; Aber doch wenn 's nich gelungen Hatt ' ich auch recht huebsch Plaisir ! " As he said this , Stepan Arkadyevitch smiled subtly . Levin , too , could not help smiling . " Yes , but joking apart , " resumed Stepan Arkadyevitch , " you must understand that the woman is a sweet , gentle loving creature , poor and lonely , and has sacrificed everything . Now , when the thing 's done , do n't you see , can one possibly cast her off ? Even supposing one parts from her , so as not to break up one 's family life , still , can one help feeling for her , setting her on her feet , softening her lot ? " " Well , you must excuse me there . You know to me all women are divided into two classes ... at least no ... truer to say : there are women and there are ... I 've never seen exquisite fallen beings , and I never shall see them , but such creatures as that painted Frenchwoman at the counter with the ringlets are vermin to my mind , and all fallen women are the same . " " But the Magdalen ? " " Ah , drop that ! Christ would never have said those words if He had known how they would be abused . Of all the Gospel those words are the only ones remembered . However , I 'm not saying so much what I think , as what I feel . I have a loathing for fallen women . You 're afraid of spiders , and I of these vermin . Most likely you 've not made a study of spiders and do n't know their character ; and so it is with me . " " It 's very well for you to talk like that ; it 's very much like that gentleman in Dickens who used to fling all difficult questions over his right shoulder . But to deny the facts is no answer . What 's to be done—you tell me that , what 's to be done ? Your wife gets older , while you 're full of life . Before you 've time to look round , you feel that you ca n't love your wife with love , however much you may esteem her . And then all at once love turns up , and you 're done for , done for , " Stepan Arkadyevitch said with weary despair . Levin half smiled . " Yes , you 're done for , " resumed Oblonsky . " But what 's to be done ? " " Do n't steal rolls . " Stepan Arkadyevitch laughed outright . " Oh , moralist ! But you must understand , there are two women ; one insists only on her rights , and those rights are your love , which you ca n't give her ; and the other sacrifices everything for you and asks for nothing . What are you to do ? How are you to act ? There 's a fearful tragedy in it . " " If you care for my profession of faith as regards that , I 'll tell you that I do n't believe there was any tragedy about it . And this is why . To my mind , love ... both the sorts of love , which you remember Plato defines in his Banquet , served as the test of men . Some men only understand one sort , and some only the other . And those who only know the non-platonic love have no need to talk of tragedy . In such love there can be no sort of tragedy . 'I 'm much obliged for the gratification , my humble respects'—that 's all the tragedy . And in platonic love there can be no tragedy , because in that love all is clear and pure , because ... " At that instant Levin recollected his own sins and the inner conflict he had lived through . And he added unexpectedly : " But perhaps you are right . Very likely ... I do n't know , I do n't know . " " It 's this , do n't you see , " said Stepan Arkadyevitch , " you 're very much all of a piece . That 's your strong point and your failing . You have a character that 's all of a piece , and you want the whole of life to be of a piece too—but that 's not how it is . You despise public official work because you want the reality to be invariably corresponding all the while with the aim—and that 's not how it is . You want a man 's work , too , always to have a defined aim , and love and family life always to be undivided—and that 's not how it is . All the variety , all the charm , all the beauty of life is made up of light and shadow . " Levin sighed and made no reply . He was thinking of his own affairs , and did not hear Oblonsky . And suddenly both of them felt that though they were friends , though they had been dining and drinking together , which should have drawn them closer , yet each was thinking only of his own affairs , and they had nothing to do with one another . Oblonsky had more than once experienced this extreme sense of aloofness , instead of intimacy , coming on after dinner , and he knew what to do in such cases . " Bill ! " he called , and he went into the next room where he promptly came across an aide-de-camp of his acquaintance and dropped into conversation with him about an actress and her protector . And at once in the conversation with the aide-de-camp Oblonsky had a sense of relaxation and relief after the conversation with Levin , which always put him to too great a mental and spiritual strain . When the Tatar appeared with a bill for twenty-six roubles and odd kopecks , besides a tip for himself , Levin , who would another time have been horrified , like any one from the country , at his share of fourteen roubles , did not notice it , paid , and set off homewards to dress and go to the Shtcherbatskys ' there to decide his fate . |