Page:Anna Karenina.djvu/153

 graceful bearing, her face; she will speak a word to me, will turn her head, will look at me, perhaps she will smile on me."

But it was her husband whom first he saw, politely escorted through the crowd by the station-master.

"Oh, yes! the husband!"

And then Vronsky for the first time clearly realized that the husband was an important factor in Anna's life. He knew that she had a husband, but he had not realized his existence, and he now fully realized it only as he saw his head and shoulders, and his legs clothed in black trowsers, and especially when he saw this husband unconcernedly take her hand with an air of proprietorship.

When he saw Alekseï Aleksandrovitch with his Petersburgish-fresh face, and his solid, self-confident figure, his round hat, and his slightly stooping shoulders, he began to believe in his existence, and he experienced an unpleasant sensation such as a man tormented by thirst might experience, who should discover a fountain, but find that a dog, a sheep, or a pig has been drinking and fouling the water.

Alekseï Aleksandrovitch's stiff and heavy gait was exceedingly distasteful to Vronsky. He would not acknowledge that any one besides himself had the right to love Anna. But she was still the same and the sight of her had still the same effect on him, physically kindling him, stirring him, and filling his heart with joy. He ordered his German body-servant, who came hurrying up to him from the second-class carriage, to see to the baggage and to go home; and he himself went to her. Thus he witnessed the first meeting between husband and wife, and with a lover's intuition, perceived the shade of constraint with which Anna spoke to her husband.

"No, she does not love him, and she cannot love him," was his mental judgment.

Even as he came up to Anna Arkadyevna from behind, he noticed with joy that she felt him near her and looked round, and having recognized him, she went on talking with her husband.