Part Two: Chapter 31

by Leo Tolstoy

　　It was a wet day; it had been raining all the morning, and theinvalids, with their parasols, had flocked into the arcades.

　　Kitty was walking there with her mother and the Moscow colonel,smart and jaunty in his European coat, bought ready-made atFrankfort. They were walking on one side of the arcade, tryingto avoid Levin, who was walking on the other side. Varenka, inher dark dress, in a black hat with a turndown brim, was walkingup and down the whole length of the arcade with a blindFrenchwoman, and, every time she met Kitty, they exchangedfriendly glances.

　　"Mamma, couldn't I speak to her?" said Kitty, watching herunknown friend, and noticing that she was going up to the spring,and that they might come there together.

　　"Oh, if you want to so much, I'll find out about her first andmake her acquaintance myself," answered her mother. "What do yousee in her out of the way? A companion, she must be. If youlike, I'll make acquaintance with Madame Stahl; I used to knowher belle-seur," added the princess, lifting her head haughtily.

　　Kitty knew that the princess was offended that Madame Stahl hadseemed to avoid making her acquaintance. Kitty did not insist.

　　"How wonderfully sweet she is!" she said, gazing at Varenka justas she handed a glass to the Frenchwoman. "Look how natural andsweet it all is."

　　"It's so funny to see your engouements," said the princess. "No,we'd better go back," she added, noticing Levin coming towardsthem with his companion and a German doctor, to whom he wastalking very noisily and angrily.

　　They turned to go back, when suddenly they heard, not noisy talk,but shouting. Levin, stopping short, was shouting at the doctor,and the doctor, too, was excited. A crowd gathered about them.The princess and Kitty beat a hasty retreat, while the coloneljoined the crowd to find out what was the matter.

　　A few minutes later the colonel overtook them.

　　"What was it?" inquired the princess.

　　"Scandalous and disgraceful!" answered the colonel. "The onething to be dreaded is meeting Russians abroad. That tallgentleman was abusing the doctor, flinging all sorts of insultsat him because he wasn't treating him quite as he liked, and hebegan waving his stick at him. It's simply a scandal!"

　　"Oh, how unpleasant!" said the princess. "Well, and how did itend?"

　　"Luckily at that point that...the one in the mushroom hat...intervened. A Russian lady, I think she is," said the colonel.

　　"Mademoiselle Varenka?" asked Kitty.

　　"Yes, yes. She came to the rescue before anyone; she took theman by the arm and led him away."

　　"There, mamma," said Kitty; "you wonder that I'm enthusiasticabout her."

　　The next day, as she watched her unknown friend, Kitty noticedthat Mademoiselle Varenka was already on the same terms withLevin and his companion as with her other proteges. She went upto them, entered into conversation with them, and served asinterpreter for the woman, who could not speak any foreignlanguage.

　　Kitty began to entreat her mother still more urgently to let hermake friends with Varenka. And, disagreeable as it was to theprincess to seem to take the first step in wishing to make theacquaintance of Madame Stahl,who thought fit to give herselfairs, she made inquiries about Varenka, and, having ascertainedparticulars about her tending to prove that there could be noharm though little good in the acquaintance, she herselfapproached Varenka and made acquaintance with her.

　　Choosing a time when her daughter had gone to the spring, whileVarenka had stopped outside the baker's, the princess went up toher.

　　"Allow me to make your acquaintance," she said, with herdignified smile. "My daughter has lost her heart to you," shesaid. "Possibly you do not know me. I am..."

　　"That feeling is more than reciprocal, princess," Varenkaanswered hurriedly.

　　"What a good deed you did yesterday to our poor compatriot!" saidthe princess.

　　Varenka flushed a little. "I don't remember. I don't think Idid anything," she said.

　　"Why, you saved that Levin from disagreeable consequences."

　　"Yes, sa compagne called me, and I tried to pacify him, he'svery ill and was dissatisfied with the doctor. I'm used tolooking after such invalids."

　　"Yes, I've heard you live at Mentone with your aunt--I think--Madame Stahl: I used to know her belle-soeur."

　　"No, she's not my aunt. I call her mamma, but I am not relatedto her; I was brought up by her," answered Varenka, flushing alittle again.

　　This was so simply said, and so sweet was the truthful and candidexpression of her face, that the princess saw why Kitty had takensuch a fancy to Varenka.

　　"Well, and what's this Levin going to do?" asked the princess.

　　"He's going away," answered Varenka.

　　At that instant Kitty came up from the spring beaming withdelight that her mother had become acquainted with her unknownfriend.

　　"Well, see, Kitty, your intense desire to make friends withMademoiselle . . ."

　　"Varenka," Varenka put in smiling, "that's what everyone callsme."

　　Kitty blushed with pleasure, and slowly, without speaking,pressed her new friend's hand, which did not respond to herpressure, but lay motionless in her hand. The hand did notrespond to her pressure, but the face of Mademoiselle Varenkaglowed with a soft, glad, though rather mournful smile, thatshowed large but handsome teeth.

　　"I have long wished for this too," she said.

　　"But you are so busy."

　　"Oh, no, I'm not at all busy," answered Varenka, but at thatmoment she had to leave her new friends because two littleRussian girls, children of an invalid, ran up to her.

　　"Varenka, mamma's calling!" they cried.

　　And Varenka went after them.