Page:Anna Karenina.djvu/534

 Alekseï Aleksandrovitch's arm, said, "We shall be disturbed here; let us go in there, please."

Dolly's emotion communicated itself to Alekseï Aleksandrovitch; he arose, and submissively followed her into the children's schoolroom. They seated themselves at a table covered with an oil-cloth, hacked with penknives.

"I don't believe it, I don't believe it!" repeated Dolly, trying to catch his eye, which avoided hers.

"One cannot deny facts, Darya Aleksandrovna," said he, dwelling on the word facts.

"But what has she done?" insisted Darya Aleksandrovna, "precisely what has she done?"

"She has failed to do her duty, and been false to her husband. That is what she has done," said he.

"No, no! it is impossible! no, thank the Lord, you are mistaken!" cried Dolly, putting her hands to her temples, and closing her eyes.

AlekseÏ Aleksandrovitch smiled coldly with his lips only; he wished to prove to Dolly, and to prove to himself, the firmness of his conviction. But this heated defense of his wife, though it did not shake him, irritated his wound. He spoke with more animation:—

"It is difficult to make a mistake when a woman herself declares to her husband that eight years of married life and a son count for nothing, and that she wishes to begin life over again," he replied angrily, dilating his nostrils.

"Anna and vice! I cannot associate the two ideas; I cannot believe it."

"Darya Aleksandrovna!"—said he, angrily, now looking straight at Dolly's distressed face, and feeling his tongue involuntarily unloosed,—"I would give a great deal to be able still to have any doubts! When I was in doubt about it, it was hard for me, but easier than it is now. When I doubted, there was still hope. Now there is no hope, and I have doubted everything. I am so full of doubt that I detest my son, and sometimes I do not believe that he is my son. I am very unhappy!"