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Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, Part 6. Chapter 11.

Part 6. Chapter 11.

When Levin and Stepan Arkadyevitch reached the peasant's hut where Levin always used to stay, Veslovsky was already there. He was sitting in the middle of the hut, clinging with both hands to the bench from which he was being pulled by a soldier, the brother of the peasant's wife, who was helping him off with his miry boots. Veslovsky was laughing his infectious, good-humored laugh.

"I've only just come. Ils ont été charmants . Just fancy, they gave me drink, fed me! Such bread, it was exquisite! Delicieux! And the vodka, I never tasted any better. And they would not take a penny for anything. And they kept saying: 'Excuse our homely ways.'" "What should they take anything for? They were entertaining you, to be sure. Do you suppose they keep vodka for sale?" said the soldier, succeeding at last in pulling the soaked boot off the blackened stocking.

In spite of the dirtiness of the hut, which was all muddied by their boots and the filthy dogs licking themselves clean, and the smell of marsh mud and powder that filled the room, and the absence of knives and forks, the party drank their tea and ate their supper with a relish only known to sportsmen. Washed and clean, they went into a hay-barn swept ready for them, where the coachman had been making up beds for the gentlemen.

Though it was dusk, not one of them wanted to go to sleep.

After wavering among reminiscences and anecdotes of guns, of dogs, and of former shooting parties, the conversation rested on a topic that interested all of them. After Vassenka had several times over expressed his appreciation of this delightful sleeping place among the fragrant hay, this delightful broken cart (he supposed it to be broken because the shafts had been taken out), of the good nature of the peasants that had treated him to vodka, of the dogs who lay at the feet of their respective masters, Oblonsky began telling them of a delightful shooting party at Malthus's, where he had stayed the previous summer. Malthus was a well-known capitalist, who had made his money by speculation in railway shares. Stepan Arkadyevitch described what grouse moors this Malthus had bought in the Tver province, and how they were preserved, and of the carriages and dogcarts in which the shooting party had been driven, and the luncheon pavilion that had been rigged up at the marsh.

"I don't understand you," said Levin, sitting up in the hay; "how is it such people don't disgust you? I can understand a lunch with Lafitte is all very pleasant, but don't you dislike just that very sumptuousness? All these people, just like our spirit monopolists in old days, get their money in a way that gains them the contempt of everyone. They don't care for their contempt, and then they use their dishonest gains to buy off the contempt they have deserved." "Perfectly true!" chimed in Vassenka Veslovsky. "Perfectly! Oblonsky, of course, goes out of bonhomie , but other people say: 'Well, Oblonsky stays with them. '…" "Not a bit of it." Levin could hear that Oblonsky was smiling as he spoke. "I simply don't consider him more dishonest than any other wealthy merchant or nobleman. They've all made their money alike—by their work and their intelligence." "Oh, by what work? Do you call it work to get hold of concessions and speculate with them?" "Of course it's work. Work in this sense, that if it were not for him and others like him, there would have been no railways." "But that's not work, like the work of a peasant or a learned profession." "Granted, but it's work in the sense that his activity produces a result—the railways. But of course you think the railways useless." "No, that's another question; I am prepared to admit that they're useful. But all profit that is out of proportion to the labor expended is dishonest." "But who is to define what is proportionate?" "Making profit by dishonest means, by trickery," said Levin, conscious that he could not draw a distinct line between honesty and dishonesty. "Such as banking, for instance," he went on. "It's an evil—the amassing of huge fortunes without labor, just the same thing as with the spirit monopolies, it's only the form that's changed. Le roi est mort, vive le roi . No sooner were the spirit monopolies abolished than the railways came up, and banking companies; that, too, is profit without work." "Yes, that may all be very true and clever…. Lie down, Krak!" Stepan Arkadyevitch called to his dog, who was scratching and turning over all the hay. He was obviously convinced of the correctness of his position, and so talked serenely and without haste. "But you have not drawn the line between honest and dishonest work. That I receive a bigger salary than my chief clerk, though he knows more about the work than I do—that's dishonest, I suppose?" "I can't say." "Well, but I can tell you: your receiving some five thousand, let's say, for your work on the land, while our host, the peasant here, however hard he works, can never get more than fifty roubles, is just as dishonest as my earning more than my chief clerk, and Malthus getting more than a station-master. No, quite the contrary; I see that society takes up a sort of antagonistic attitude to these people, which is utterly baseless, and I fancy there's envy at the bottom of it…." "No, that's unfair," said Veslovsky; "how could envy come in? There is something not nice about that sort of business." "You say," Levin went on, "that it's unjust for me to receive five thousand, while the peasant has fifty; that's true. It is unfair, and I feel it, but…" "It really is. Why is it we spend our time riding, drinking, shooting, doing nothing, while they are forever at work?" said Vassenka Veslovsky, obviously for the first time in his life reflecting on the question, and consequently considering it with perfect sincerity.

"Yes, you feel it, but you don't give him your property," said Stepan Arkadyevitch, intentionally, as it seemed, provoking Levin. There had arisen of late something like a secret antagonism between the two brothers-in-law; as though, since they had married sisters, a kind of rivalry had sprung up between them as to which was ordering his life best, and now this hostility showed itself in the conversation, as it began to take a personal note.

"I don't give it away, because no one demands that from me, and if I wanted to, I could not give it away," answered Levin, "and have no one to give it to." "Give it to this peasant, he would not refuse it." "Yes, but how am I to give it up? Am I to go to him and make a deed of conveyance?" "I don't know; but if you are convinced that you have no right…" "I'm not at all convinced. On the contrary, I feel I have no right to give it up, that I have duties both to the land and to my family." "No, excuse me, but if you consider this inequality is unjust, why is it you don't act accordingly?…" "Well, I do act negatively on that idea, so far as not trying to increase the difference of position existing between him and me." "No, excuse me, that's a paradox." "Yes, there's something of a sophistry about that," Veslovsky agreed. "Ah! our host; so you're not asleep yet?" he said to the peasant who came into the barn, opening the creaking door. "How is it you're not asleep?" "No, how's one to sleep! I thought our gentlemen would be asleep, but I heard them chattering. I want to get a hook from here. She won't bite?" he added, stepping cautiously with his bare feet.

"And where are you going to sleep?" "We are going out for the night with the beasts." "Ah, what a night!" said Veslovsky, looking out at the edge of the hut and the unharnessed wagonette that could be seen in the faint light of the evening glow in the great frame of the open doors. "But listen, there are women's voices singing, and, on my word, not badly too. Who's that singing, my friend?" "That's the maids from hard by here." "Let's go, let's have a walk! We shan't go to sleep, you know. Oblonsky, come along!" "If one could only do both, lie here and go," answered Oblonsky, stretching. "It's capital lying here." "Well, I shall go by myself," said Veslovsky, getting up eagerly, and putting on his shoes and stockings. "Good-bye, gentlemen. If it's fun, I'll fetch you. You've treated me to some good sport, and I won't forget you." "He really is a capital fellow, isn't he?" said Stepan Arkadyevitch, when Veslovsky had gone out and the peasant had closed the door after him.

"Yes, capital," answered Levin, still thinking of the subject of their conversation just before. It seemed to him that he had clearly expressed his thoughts and feelings to the best of his capacity, and yet both of them, straightforward men and not fools, had said with one voice that he was comforting himself with sophistries. This disconcerted him.

"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? Ça 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 off for the night watch with the beasts, then he heard the soldier arranging his bed on the other side of the barn, with his nephew, the younger son of their peasant host. He heard the boy in his shrill little voice telling his uncle what he thought about the dogs, who seemed to him huge and terrible creatures, and asking what the dogs were going to hunt next day, and the soldier in a husky, sleepy voice, telling him the sportsmen were going in the morning to the marsh, and would shoot with their guns; and then, to check the boy's questions, he said, "Go to sleep, Vaska; go to sleep, or you'll catch it," and soon after he began snoring himself, and everything was still. He could only hear the snort of the horses, and the guttural cry of a snipe.

"Is it really only negative?" he repeated to himself. "Well, what of it? It's not my fault." And he began thinking about the next day.

"Tomorrow I'll go out early, and I'll make a point of keeping cool. There are lots of snipe; and there are grouse too. When I come back there'll be the note from Kitty. Yes, Stiva may be right, I'm not manly with her, I'm tied to her apron-strings…. Well, it can't be helped! Negative again…." Half asleep, he heard the laughter and mirthful talk of Veslovsky and Stepan Arkadyevitch. For an instant he opened his eyes: the moon was up, and in the open doorway, brightly lighted up by the moonlight, they were standing talking. Stepan Arkadyevitch was saying something of the freshness of one girl, comparing her to a freshly peeled nut, and Veslovsky with his infectious laugh was repeating some words, probably said to him by a peasant: "Ah, you do your best to get round her!" Levin, half asleep, said:

"Gentlemen, tomorrow before daylight!" and fell asleep.

Part 6. Chapter 11.

When Levin and Stepan Arkadyevitch reached the peasant's hut where Levin always used to stay, Veslovsky was already there. He was sitting in the middle of the hut, clinging with both hands to the bench from which he was being pulled by a soldier, the brother of the peasant's wife, who was helping him off with his miry boots. Il était assis au milieu de la hutte, accroché à deux mains au banc d'où il était tiré par un soldat, le frère de la femme du paysan, qui l'aidait avec ses bottes miry. Veslovsky was laughing his infectious, good-humored laugh.

"I've only just come. Ils ont été charmants . Just fancy, they gave me drink, fed me! Such bread, it was exquisite! Delicieux! And the vodka, I never tasted any better. And they would not take a penny for anything. And they kept saying: 'Excuse our homely ways.'" "What should they take anything for? «Pour quoi devraient-ils prendre quelque chose? They were entertaining you, to be sure. Do you suppose they keep vodka for sale?" said the soldier, succeeding at last in pulling the soaked boot off the blackened stocking.

In spite of the dirtiness of the hut, which was all muddied by their boots and the filthy dogs licking themselves clean, and the smell of marsh mud and powder that filled the room, and the absence of knives and forks, the party drank their tea and ate their supper with a relish only known to sportsmen. Washed and clean, they went into a hay-barn swept ready for them, where the coachman had been making up beds for the gentlemen. Lavés et propres, ils allèrent dans une grange à foin balayée pour eux, où le cocher faisait les lits des messieurs.

Though it was dusk, not one of them wanted to go to sleep. Même s'il faisait nuit, aucun d'entre eux ne voulait s'endormir.

After wavering among reminiscences and anecdotes of guns, of dogs, and of former shooting parties, the conversation rested on a topic that interested all of them. Après avoir hésité entre des souvenirs et des anecdotes d'armes à feu, de chiens et d'anciennes fusillades, la conversation s'est portée sur un sujet qui les intéressait tous. After Vassenka had several times over expressed his appreciation of this delightful sleeping place among the fragrant hay, this delightful broken cart (he supposed it to be broken because the shafts had been taken out), of the good nature of the peasants that had treated him to vodka, of the dogs who lay at the feet of their respective masters, Oblonsky began telling them of a delightful shooting party at Malthus's, where he had stayed the previous summer. Après que Vassenka eut à plusieurs reprises exprimé son appréciation de ce charmant lieu de couchage parmi le foin parfumé, de cette délicieuse charrette cassée (il supposait qu'elle était cassée parce que les arbres avaient été enlevés), de la bonne nature des paysans qui l'avaient traité. à la vodka, des chiens qui gisaient aux pieds de leurs maîtres respectifs, Oblonsky commença à leur raconter une délicieuse fusillade chez Malthus, où il avait séjourné l'été précédent. Malthus was a well-known capitalist, who had made his money by speculation in railway shares. Stepan Arkadyevitch described what grouse moors this Malthus had bought in the Tver province, and how they were preserved, and of the carriages and dogcarts in which the shooting party had been driven, and the luncheon pavilion that had been rigged up at the marsh. Stepan Arkadyevitch a décrit les landes de tétras que ce Malthus avait achetées dans la province de Tver, et comment elles ont été conservées, ainsi que des voitures et des charrettes dans lesquelles le groupe de tir avait été conduit, et le pavillon du déjeuner qui avait été aménagé dans le marais.

"I don't understand you," said Levin, sitting up in the hay; "how is it such people don't disgust you? «Je ne vous comprends pas,» dit Levin, assis dans le foin; "comment se fait-il que de telles personnes ne vous dégoûtent pas? - Aš tavęs nesuprantu, - tarė Levinas, atsisėdęs į šieną; „kaip gi tokie žmonės jūsų nebjauroja? I can understand a lunch with Lafitte is all very pleasant, but don't you dislike just that very sumptuousness? Je peux comprendre qu'un déjeuner avec Lafitte est très agréable, mais ne détestez-vous pas cette somptuosité? All these people, just like our spirit monopolists in old days, get their money in a way that gains them the contempt of everyone. Tous ces gens, tout comme nos monopoles spirituels d'autrefois, obtiennent leur argent d'une manière qui leur vaut le mépris de tout le monde. Visi šie žmonės, kaip ir mūsų dvasios monopolistai senais laikais, gauna pinigus taip, kad pelnytų visų panieką. They don't care for their contempt, and then they use their dishonest gains to buy off the contempt they have deserved." Ils ne se soucient pas de leur mépris, puis ils utilisent leurs gains malhonnêtes pour acheter le mépris qu'ils ont mérité. " "Perfectly true!" chimed in Vassenka Veslovsky. "Perfectly! Oblonsky, of course, goes out of bonhomie , but other people say: 'Well, Oblonsky stays with them. Oblonsky, bien sûr, sort de la bonhomie, mais d'autres disent: «Eh bien, Oblonsky reste avec eux. Oblonskis, be abejo, išeina iš bonhomie, bet kiti žmonės sako: „Na, Oblonsky lieka su jais. Oblonsky gaat natuurlijk uit bonhomie, maar andere mensen zeggen: 'Nou, Oblonsky blijft bij hen. '…" "Not a bit of it." Levin could hear that Oblonsky was smiling as he spoke. "I simply don't consider him more dishonest than any other wealthy merchant or nobleman. «Je ne le considère tout simplement pas comme plus malhonnête que n'importe quel autre riche marchand ou noble. They've all made their money alike—by their work and their intelligence." "Oh, by what work? Do you call it work to get hold of concessions and speculate with them?" Vous appelez cela du travail pour obtenir des concessions et spéculer avec elles? " "Of course it's work. Work in this sense, that if it were not for him and others like him, there would have been no railways." Travaillez en ce sens, que sans lui et d'autres comme lui, il n'y aurait pas eu de chemins de fer. " "But that's not work, like the work of a peasant or a learned profession." "Granted, but it's work in the sense that his activity produces a result—the railways. «D'accord, mais c'est du travail dans le sens où son activité produit un résultat: les chemins de fer. But of course you think the railways useless." "No, that's another question; I am prepared to admit that they're useful. But all profit that is out of proportion to the labor expended is dishonest." Mais tout profit qui est hors de proportion avec le travail dépensé est malhonnête. " "But who is to define what is proportionate?" "Mais qui doit définir ce qui est proportionné?" "Making profit by dishonest means, by trickery," said Levin, conscious that he could not draw a distinct line between honesty and dishonesty. «Faire du profit par des moyens malhonnêtes, par la ruse», a déclaré Levin, conscient qu'il ne pouvait pas tracer une ligne distincte entre l'honnêteté et la malhonnêteté. "Such as banking, for instance," he went on. «Comme la banque, par exemple», a-t-il poursuivi. "It's an evil—the amassing of huge fortunes without labor, just the same thing as with the spirit monopolies, it's only the form that's changed. «C'est un mal - l'accumulation d'énormes fortunes sans travail, exactement la même chose qu'avec les monopoles spirituels, c'est seulement la forme qui a changé. Le roi est mort, vive le roi . No sooner were the spirit monopolies abolished than the railways came up, and banking companies; that, too, is profit without work." A peine les monopoles des esprits furent abolis que les chemins de fer et les banques furent créés; cela aussi est un profit sans travail. " "Yes, that may all be very true and clever…. Lie down, Krak!" Stepan Arkadyevitch called to his dog, who was scratching and turning over all the hay. Stepan Arkadyevitch a appelé son chien, qui grattait et retournait tout le foin. He was obviously convinced of the correctness of his position, and so talked serenely and without haste. "But you have not drawn the line between honest and dishonest work. That I receive a bigger salary than my chief clerk, though he knows more about the work than I do—that's dishonest, I suppose?" "I can't say." "Well, but I can tell you: your receiving some five thousand, let's say, for your work on the land, while our host, the peasant here, however hard he works, can never get more than fifty roubles, is just as dishonest as my earning more than my chief clerk, and Malthus getting more than a station-master. "Eh bien, mais je peux vous dire: que vous receviez quelque cinq mille, disons, pour votre travail sur la terre, alors que notre hôte, le paysan ici, si dur qu'il travaille, ne peut jamais obtenir plus de cinquante roubles, est tout aussi malhonnête car je gagne plus que mon commis en chef, et Malthus reçoit plus qu'un chef de gare. No, quite the contrary; I see that society takes up a sort of antagonistic attitude to these people, which is utterly baseless, and I fancy there's envy at the bottom of it…." Non, bien au contraire; Je vois que la société adopte une sorte d'attitude antagoniste à l'égard de ces gens, ce qui est totalement sans fondement, et je pense qu'il y a de l'envie au fond… ». "No, that's unfair," said Veslovsky; "how could envy come in? 'Nee, dat is oneerlijk', zei Veslovsky; "hoe kan jaloezie binnenkomen? There is something not nice about that sort of business." "You say," Levin went on, "that it's unjust for me to receive five thousand, while the peasant has fifty; that's true. It is unfair, and I feel it, but…" "It really is. Why is it we spend our time riding, drinking, shooting, doing nothing, while they are forever at work?" said Vassenka Veslovsky, obviously for the first time in his life reflecting on the question, and consequently considering it with perfect sincerity. - sakė Vassenka Veslovsky, akivaizdžiai pirmą kartą gyvenime apmąstydamas šį klausimą ir todėl jį nuoširdžiai svarstydamas.

"Yes, you feel it, but you don't give him your property," said Stepan Arkadyevitch, intentionally, as it seemed, provoking Levin. There had arisen of late something like a secret antagonism between the two brothers-in-law; as though, since they had married sisters, a kind of rivalry had sprung up between them as to which was ordering his life best, and now this hostility showed itself in the conversation, as it began to take a personal note. Il s'était produit récemment quelque chose comme un antagonisme secret entre les deux beaux-frères; comme si, depuis qu'elles avaient épousé des sœurs, une sorte de rivalité s'était installée entre elles pour savoir qui ordonnait le mieux sa vie, et maintenant cette hostilité se manifestait dans la conversation, alors qu'elle commençait à prendre une note personnelle.

"I don't give it away, because no one demands that from me, and if I wanted to, I could not give it away," answered Levin, "and have no one to give it to." "Je ne le donne pas, parce que personne ne me l'exige, et si je le voulais, je ne pourrais pas le donner", répondit Levin, "et je n'ai personne à qui le donner." - Aš jo neatiduodu, nes to niekas iš manęs nereikalauja, o jei norėčiau, negalėčiau jo atiduoti, - atsakė Levinas, - ir neturiu kam atiduoti. "Give it to this peasant, he would not refuse it." 'Geef het aan deze boer, hij zou het niet weigeren.' "Yes, but how am I to give it up? «Oui, mais comment dois-je y renoncer? Am I to go to him and make a deed of conveyance?" Dois-je aller le voir et faire un acte de transfert? " "I don't know; but if you are convinced that you have no right…" "I'm not at all convinced. On the contrary, I feel I have no right to give it up, that I have duties both to the land and to my family." Au contraire, je sens que je n'ai pas le droit d'y renoncer, que j'ai des devoirs à la fois envers la terre et envers ma famille. " "No, excuse me, but if you consider this inequality is unjust, why is it you don't act accordingly?…" «Non, excusez-moi, mais si vous considérez que cette inégalité est injuste, pourquoi n'agissez-vous pas en conséquence?…» "Well, I do act negatively on that idea, so far as not trying to increase the difference of position existing between him and me." "Eh bien, j'agis négativement sur cette idée, dans la mesure où je n'essaye pas d'augmenter la différence de position existant entre lui et moi." "No, excuse me, that's a paradox." "Yes, there's something of a sophistry about that," Veslovsky agreed. "Oui, il y a quelque chose d'un sophisme à ce sujet," approuva Veslovsky. - Taip, tame yra kažkas sofizmo, - sutiko Veslovskis. 'Ja, daar zit iets drogrends in,' beaamde Veslovsky. "Ah! our host; so you're not asleep yet?" he said to the peasant who came into the barn, opening the creaking door. "How is it you're not asleep?" "No, how's one to sleep! "Non, comment dormir! I thought our gentlemen would be asleep, but I heard them chattering. I want to get a hook from here. Je veux obtenir un crochet d'ici. She won't bite?" he added, stepping cautiously with his bare feet. ajouta-t-il, marchant prudemment avec ses pieds nus.

"And where are you going to sleep?" "We are going out for the night with the beasts." "Ah, what a night!" said Veslovsky, looking out at the edge of the hut and the unharnessed wagonette that could be seen in the faint light of the evening glow in the great frame of the open doors. "But listen, there are women's voices singing, and, on my word, not badly too. Who's that singing, my friend?" "That's the maids from hard by here." "Ce sont les femmes de chambre du coin." "Let's go, let's have a walk! We shan't go to sleep, you know. Oblonsky, come along!" "If one could only do both, lie here and go," answered Oblonsky, stretching. «Si l'on pouvait faire les deux, allongez-vous ici et partez», répondit Oblonsky en s'étirant. - Jei kas galėtų padaryti tik abu, gulėk čia ir eik, - pasitempęs atsakė Oblonskis. "It's capital lying here." "Well, I shall go by myself," said Veslovsky, getting up eagerly, and putting on his shoes and stockings. "Good-bye, gentlemen. If it's fun, I'll fetch you. You've treated me to some good sport, and I won't forget you." "He really is a capital fellow, isn't he?" said Stepan Arkadyevitch, when Veslovsky had gone out and the peasant had closed the door after him.

"Yes, capital," answered Levin, still thinking of the subject of their conversation just before. - Taip, kapitalas, - atsakė Levinas, vis dar galvodamas apie jų pokalbio temą prieš tai. 'Ja, hoofdletter,' antwoordde Levin, nog steeds denkend aan het onderwerp van hun gesprek net daarvoor. It seemed to him that he had clearly expressed his thoughts and feelings to the best of his capacity, and yet both of them, straightforward men and not fools, had said with one voice that he was comforting himself with sophistries. This disconcerted him.

"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." Il faut faire une de deux choses: soit admettre que l'ordre existant de la société est juste, puis défendre ses droits en lui; ou reconnaissez que vous jouissez de privilèges injustes, comme moi, puis profitez-en et soyez satisfait. " "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. dit Stepan Arkadyevitch, manifestement las de la tension de la pensée. "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?" "Est-ce que c'est seulement possible d'être juste négativement?" 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? «Pensez-vous que je ne vois pas la ligne que vous avez prise avec votre femme? 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. J'ai entendu dire que c'était une question de la plus grande conséquence, que vous soyez ou non absent pour quelques jours de tournage. That's all very well as an idyllic episode, but for your whole life that won't answer. C'est très bien un épisode idyllique, mais pour toute votre vie, cela ne répondra pas. 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? Ça 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. Le grand avantage est de respecter le caractère sacré de la maison. 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. Levin fit semblant de dormir, tandis qu'Oblonsky, enfilant ses pantoufles et allumant un cigare, sortait de la grange, et bientôt leurs voix se perdirent.

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 off for the night watch with the beasts, then he heard the soldier arranging his bed on the other side of the barn, with his nephew, the younger son of their peasant host. He heard the boy in his shrill little voice telling his uncle what he thought about the dogs, who seemed to him huge and terrible creatures, and asking what the dogs were going to hunt next day, and the soldier in a husky, sleepy voice, telling him the sportsmen were going in the morning to the marsh, and would shoot with their guns; and then, to check the boy's questions, he said, "Go to sleep, Vaska; go to sleep, or you'll catch it," and soon after he began snoring himself, and everything was still. Il entendit le garçon de sa petite voix aiguë dire à son oncle ce qu'il pensait des chiens, qui lui paraissaient énormes et terribles créatures, et lui demander ce que les chiens allaient chasser le lendemain, et le soldat d'une voix rauque et endormie, lui disant que les sportifs allaient le matin au marais et tireraient avec leurs fusils; puis, pour vérifier les questions du garçon, il a dit: "Va dormir, Vaska; va dormir, ou tu l'attraperas", et peu de temps après, il a commencé à ronfler lui-même, et tout était calme. He could only hear the snort of the horses, and the guttural cry of a snipe.

"Is it really only negative?" he repeated to himself. "Well, what of it? It's not my fault." And he began thinking about the next day.

"Tomorrow I'll go out early, and I'll make a point of keeping cool. «Demain, je sortirai tôt et je ferai un point d'honneur à rester calme. There are lots of snipe; and there are grouse too. When I come back there'll be the note from Kitty. Yes, Stiva may be right, I'm not manly with her, I'm tied to her apron-strings…. Oui, Stiva a peut-être raison, je ne suis pas viril avec elle, je suis attaché à ses cordons de tablier…. Well, it can't be helped! Eh bien, ça ne peut pas être aidé! Negative again…." Half asleep, he heard the laughter and mirthful talk of Veslovsky and Stepan Arkadyevitch. For an instant he opened his eyes: the moon was up, and in the open doorway, brightly lighted up by the moonlight, they were standing talking. Un instant, il ouvrit les yeux: la lune était levée, et dans l'embrasure de la porte, brillamment éclairée par le clair de lune, ils parlaient debout. Stepan Arkadyevitch was saying something of the freshness of one girl, comparing her to a freshly peeled nut, and Veslovsky with his infectious laugh was repeating some words, probably said to him by a peasant: "Ah, you do your best to get round her!" Stepan Arkadyevitch disait quelque chose de la fraîcheur d'une fille, la comparant à une noix fraîchement pelée, et Veslovsky avec son rire contagieux répétait quelques mots, probablement dit à lui par un paysan: "Ah, tu fais de ton mieux pour la contourner ! " Stepanas Arkadijevičius kalbėjo apie vienos mergaitės gaivumą, lygindamas ją su ką tik nuluptu riešutu, o Veslovskis su savo užkrečiančiu juoku kartojo keletą žodžių, kuriuos tikriausiai jam pasakė valstietis: „Ak, darai viską, kad apeitum ją ! " Levin, half asleep, said:

"Gentlemen, tomorrow before daylight!" and fell asleep.