Anna Karenina - Part 3

In spite of Vronsky's apparently frivolous life in society, he

was a man who hated irregularity. In early youth in the Corps of

Pages, he had experienced the humiliation of a refusal, when he

had tried, being in difficulties, to borrow money, and since then

he had never once put himself in the same position again.

In order to keep his affairs in some sort of order, he used about

five times a year (more or less frequently, according to

circumstances) to shut himself up alone and put all his affairs

into definite shape. This he used to call his day of reckoning

or _faire la lessive_.

On waking up the day after the races, Vronsky put on a white

linen coat, and without shaving or taking his bath, he

distributed about the table moneys, bills, and letters, and set

to work. Petritsky, who knew he was ill-tempered on such

occasions, on waking up and seeing his comrade at the

writing-table, quietly dressed and went out without getting in

his way.

Every man who knows to the minutest details all the complexity of

the conditions surrounding him, cannot help imagining that the

complexity of these conditions, and the difficulty of making them

clear, is something exceptional and personal, peculiar to

himself, and never supposes that others are surrounded by just as

complicated an array of personal affairs as he is. So indeed it

seemed to Vronsky. And not without inward pride, and not

without reason, he thought that any other man would long ago have

been in difficulties, would have been forced to some dishonorable

course, if he had found himself in such a difficult position.

But Vronsky felt that now especially it was essential for him to

clear up and define his position if he were to avoid getting into

difficulties.

What Vronsky attacked first as being the easiest was his

pecuniary position. Writing out on note paper in his minute hand

all that he owed, he added up the amount and found that his debts

amounted to seventeen thousand and some odd hundreds, which he

left out for the sake of clearness. Reckoning up his money and

his bank book, he found that he had left one thousand eight

hundred roubles, and nothing coming in before the New Year.

Reckoning over again his list of debts, Vronsky copied it,

dividing it into three classes. In the first class he put the

debts which he would have to pay at once, or for which he must in

any case have the money ready so that on demand for payment there

could not be a moment's delay in paying. Such debts amounted to

about four thousand: one thousand five hundred for a horse, and

two thousand five hundred as surety for a young comrade,

Venovsky, who had lost that sum to a cardsharper in Vronsky's

presence. Vronsky had wanted to pay the money at the time (he

had that amount then), but Venovsky and Yashvin had insisted that

they would pay and not Vronsky, who had not played. That was so

far well, but Vronsky knew that in this dirty business, though

his only share in it was undertaking by word of mouth to be

surety for Venovsky, it was absolutely necessary for him to have

the two thousand five hundred roubles so as to be able to fling

it at the swindler, and have no more words with him. And so for

this first and most important division he must have four thousand

roubles. The second class--eight thousand roubles--consisted

of less important debts. These were principally accounts owing

in connection with his race horses, to the purveyor of oats and

hay, the English saddler, and so on. He would have to pay some

two thousand roubles on these debts too, in order to be quite

free from anxiety. The last class of debts--to shops, to

hotels, to his tailor--were such as need not be considered. So

that he needed at least six thousand roubles for current

expenses, and he only had one thousand eight hundred. For a man

with one hundred thousand roubles of revenue, which was what

everyone fixed as Vronsky's income, such debts, one would

suppose, could hardly be embarrassing; but the fact was that he

was far from having one hundred thousand. His father's immense

property, which alone yielded a yearly income of two hundred

thousand, was left undivided between the brothers. At the time

when the elder brother, with a mass of debts, married Princess

Varya Tchirkova, the daughter of a Decembrist without any fortune

whatever, Alexey had given up to his elder brother almost the

whole income from his father's estate, reserving for himself only

twenty-five thousand a year from it. Alexey had said at the time

to his brother that that sum would be sufficient for him until he

married, which he probably never would do. And his brother, who

was in command of one of the most expensive regiments, and was

only just married, could not decline the gift. His mother, who

had her own separate property, had allowed Alexey every year

twenty thousand in addition to the twenty-five thousand he had

reserved, and Alexey had spent it all. Of late his mother,

incensed with him on account of his love affair and his leaving

Moscow, had given up sending him the money. And in consequence

of this, Vronsky, who had been in the habit of living on the

scale of forty-five thousand a year, having only received twenty

thousand that year, found himself now in difficulties. To get

out of these difficulties, he could not apply to his mother for

money. Her last letter, which he had received the day before,

had particularly exasperated him by the hints in it that she was

quite ready to help him to succeed in the world and in the army,

but not to lead a life which was a scandal to all good society.

His mother's attempt to buy him stung him to the quick and made

him feel colder than ever to her. But he could not draw back

from the generous word when it was once uttered, even though he

felt now, vaguely foreseeing certain eventualities in his

intrigue with Madame Karenina, that this generous word had been

spoken thoughtlessly, and that even though he were not married he

might need all the hundred thousand of income. But it was

impossible to draw back. He had only to recall his brother's

wife, to remember how that sweet, delightful Varya sought, at

every convenient opportunity, to remind him that she remembered

his generosity and appreciated it, to grasp the impossibility of

taking back his gift. It was as impossible as beating a woman,

stealing, or lying. One thing only could and ought to be done,

and Vronsky determined upon it without an instant's hesitation:

to borrow money from a money-lender, ten thousand roubles, a

proceeding which presented no difficulty, to cut down his

expenses generally, and to sell his race horses. Resolving on

this, he promptly wrote a note to Rolandak, who had more than

once sent to him with offers to buy horses from him. Then he

sent for the Englishman and the money-lender, and divided what

money he had according to the accounts he intended to pay.

Having finished this business, he wrote a cold and cutting answer

to his mother. Then he took out of his notebook three notes of

Anna's, read them again, burned them, and remembering their

conversation on the previous day, he sank into meditation.