Page:Anna Karenina.djvu/246

 "Ah! here he is," he cried, laying his heavy hand on Vronsky's shoulder. Vronsky turned round angrily, but in an instant a pleasant, friendly expression came into his face.

"Well, Alyosha!" said the cavalry captain, in his big baritone. "Have something more to eat, and drink one more glass with me."

"No; I don't want anything more to eat."

"Those are inseparables," said Yashvin, looking derisively at the two officers as they disappeared. Then he sat down, doubling up under the chair, which was too short for him, his long legs dressed in tight uniform trousers. "Why were n't you at the Krasmensky theater last evening? Numerova was not bad at all. Where were you?"

"I stayed too late at the Tverskoïs'," said Vronsky.

"Ah!" exclaimed Yashvin.

Yashvin, a gambler, a debauchee, was Vronsky's best friend in the regiment. It could not be said of him that he lacked principles. He had principles, but they were immoral ones. Vronsky liked him, both for his exceptional physical vigor, which allowed him to drink like a hogshead and not feel it, and to do absolutely without sleep if it were necessary, and also for his great social ability, which he employed in his relations to his superiors, and his comrades, attracting to himself their love and respect; and also in gambling, at which he risked tens of thousands, and always, no matter how much he had been drinking, played so cleverly and daringly that he was regarded as the leading gambler at the English Club.

Vronsky felt friendship and consideration for him, because he felt that Yashvin liked him, not for his fortune or his social position, but chiefly on his own account. Moreover, Yashvin was the only man to whom Vronsky would have been willing to speak of his love. He felt that, in spite of his affected scorn for all kinds of sentiment, he alone could appreciate the serious passion which now absorbed his whole life. Besides, he was persuaded that he found absolutely no pleasure in