Page:Anna Karenina.djvu/329

 ANNA KARENINA

PART THIRD

CHAPTER I

wanted a rest after his intellectual labors; and, instead of going abroad as usual, he came, toward the end of May, to visit his brother in the country. In his opinion, country life was best of all, and he came now to his brother's to enjoy it. Konstantin Levin was very glad to welcome him, the more because this summer he did not expect his brother Nikolaï. But in spite of his love and respect for Sergyeï Ivanovitch, Konstantin was not at his ease with him in the country. He was not at his ease, he was even annoyed to see how his brother regarded the country. For Konstantin Levin the country was the place for life,—for pleasures, sorrows, labor. For Sergyeï Ivanovitch the country, on the one side, offered rest from labor, on the other, a profitable antidote against corruption, and he took it gladly, convinced of its utility. For Konstantin Levin the country was beautiful because it offered field for works of incontestable utility. For Sergyeï Ivanovitch the country was especially delightful because there was nothing he could do, or needed to do there, at all.

Moreover, Sergyeï Ivanovitch's behavior toward the people somewhat piqued Konstantin. Sergyeï Ivanovitch said that he loved and knew the people; and he often chatted with the muzhiks as he was fully able to do, without pretense and without affectation, and discovered, in his interviews with them, traits of character honorable to the people, so that he felt convinced that